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1906.] PROPOSED CHANGES IN THE OLD STATE HOUSE. 245 



MAY MEETING, 1906. 

The stated meeting was held on Thursday, the 10th instant, 
at three o'clock, P. M. ; the President in the chair. The rec- 
ord of the Annual Meeting was read and approved ; and 
the Librarian and Cabinet-Keeper submitted their monthly 
reports. The Librarian said that the Cabinet which he was 
authorized to procure for the safe keeping of the Sibley Papers 
had been completed in a satisfactory manner and put in place 
since the last meeting. 

The Treasurer said that under the provisions of Mr. Sears's 
Declaration of Trust it would be necessary for the Society to 
pass a vote with reference to the income of the Massachusetts 
Historical Trust Fund ; and on his motion, it was 

Voted, That the income of the Massachusetts Historical Trust 
Fund for the last financial year be retained in the Treasury, to 
be applied to such purposes as the Council may direct. 

Messrs. Edward Stan wood, Alexander McKenzie, and Charles 
C. Smith were appointed a Committee to publish the Proceed- 
ings for the current year. 

Messrs. Thornton K. Lothrop, S. Lothrop Thorndike, and 
Charles C. Smith were appointed a House Committee. 

The President announced the death of two Corresponding 
Members, Richard Garnett, LL.D., who died in London, April 
13, and M. Gustave Vapereau, who died in Paris April 18. 

Mr, Brooks Adams called attention to the proposed changes 
in the western end of the Old State House in connection with 
the Washington Street subway now in process of construction, 
.and to the desirability of an expression of opinion by the 
Society as to its preservation, with the least possible injury to 
any part of the building, as an historical monument of great 
interest. After a brief discussion in which the President, 
and Messrs. Andrew McFarland Davis, James F. Hunne- 
"WELL, and Thomas W. Higginson took part, Messrs. Samuel 



^'6 



2-16 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [:\rAY, 

A. Green, Brooks Adams, and Edwin D. Mead were appointed 
a Committee to represent the Society in the matter. 

Hon. Samuel A. Green, a delegate from the Society to 
the recent commemoration at Philadelphia, submitted the 
following report : — 

Since the last meeting I have attended as a delegate from 
this Society the Celebration of the Two Hundredth Aniver- 
sary of the birth of Benjamin Franklin, which was held in 
Philadelphia on April 17, 18, 19, and 20, under the auspices 
of the American Philosophical Society, founded by Fianklin, 
and the oldest scientific body in the country. The exer- 
cises continued for four days, were highly instructive to the 
visiting delegates and others, and were fraught with great 
interest. When preliminary arrangements M'ere made, the 
exact date of his birth (January 17) was not included in the 
period of commemoration, owing to the possible inclemency of 
the weather at midwinter, but the time selected included the 
anniversary week of his death. As it happened, the con- 
ditions could not have been more favorable or propitious than 
they were. Delegates were present from the four quarters 
of the globe ; and during the celebration messages of con- 
gratulation were received by cable from various scientific 
associations in foreign countries. 

The exercises of the first day (Tuesday) began in the even- 
ing, when an historical address was made by the President of 
the Philosopliical Society, Professor Smith ; and a reception 
was given to delegates who represented scientific societies 
and institutions of learning throughout tlie civilized world. 

The exercises of the second day (Wednesday) were held at 
different sessions in the Hall of the Society, in Independence 
Square, and consisted of the reading of papers on various 
subjects of science. At this meeting the news of the earth- 
quake at San Francisco was announced, with its awful accom- 
paniments, and created the deepest sensation. In the evening 
there were addresses elsewhere. 

Among the exercises of the third day (Thursday) were 
ceremonies at the grave of Franklin ; and on the last day 
addresses were made on Franklin as Citizen and Philanthro- 
pist, by Horace Howard Furness (H. C. 1854) ; as Printer and 
Philosopher, by Charles William Eliot (H. C. 1853) ; and as 



1900.] THE EMANCIPATION CONCERT IN MUSIC HALL. 247 

Statesman and Diplomatist, bj Joseph Hodges Choate (H. C. 
1852). These three addresses were the only ones on the 
career of the great philosopher ; and I could not help but 
notice that they all were by men of Massachusetts orio-in like 
Frankhn himself, and that they all for several yea?s were 
students in Harvard College at the same time. 
_ I ought to add that a grand banquet took place in the even- 
ing at the end of the celebration, and that the delicacies of the 
bill of fare were among the least attractive features of the 
entertainment, where toasts and speeches held sway. 

In this brief report I have noted by no means all the impor- 
tant incidents that happened during the four days of festivity, 
but only those that left an impression on my mind The pro' 
ceedings of the afPair, from beginning to end, were well 
worthy of the subject, and were conducted in excellent taste ; 
and everything passed off successfully. 

Mr. Henry G. PeaesOxN, having been called on, read the 
lollowmg paper: — 

TJte Emancipation Concert in Mmic Hall on January First, 1863. 
Many as were the forms of rejoicing in the North on Janu- 
ary 1, 1863, over the accomplishment of negro emancipation 
the means of commemorating the day in Boston had the note 
ot distinction that is proper to the city. Nowhere else in 
America could musicians have been brought together to ren- 
der and an audience been assembled to enjoy, a concert of such 
high musical excellence as that then given in Music Hall. Its 
character as a festival of rejoicing was intensely local, Bosto- 
nian to the last degree ; but it was more than that. Provincial- 
ism which stands for the exclusive cultivation of excellence is 
the truest cosmopolitanism. So this concert, celebratino- an 
eternal principle of humanity in the eternal languao-e of art 
IS not a mere instance but a type ; is lifted from the'i-egion of 
the particular into the realm of the universal. 

The special cultivation of music in Boston fifty or sixtv 
years ago has left many records. The old Music Hall still 
stands, the bronze statue of Beethoven which looked down 
upon the audience from the platform has found a place in the 
new building of the Conservatory of Music, the great organ is 
something more than a mere memory. Part of the record is 



248 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

in the names of men, — Otto Dresel, Carl Zerrahn. Thanks 
to such influences it became the accepted doctrine in Boston 
that music, above all, the music of Beethoven, is one of the 
great realities of the soul. Traces of this belief have de- 
scended to us and have been kept alive among us by the con- 
viction of mind and heart which has maintained the Boston 
Symphony Oichestra, which has used it to celebrate a stately 
birthday, to commemorate a noble life, as in the memorial 
concerts given from time to time, and which has caused to be 
set above the orchestra in its new house of sounds the one 
word, Beethoven. Of course the cult was not widespread, — 
or, rather, fashion took it up and then dropped it, — but the 
devotion to it of those who stood for whatever was best as- 
sured it a high place in local esteem. 

A plan, therefore, to hail the day of emancipation by a con- 
cert in which orchestra, chorus, and soloists should interpret 
joy and freedom by means of music could bring its own recom- 
mendation to those whose support was necessary to make the 
realization successful. To the typical Bostonian — I avoid 
using Dr. Holmes's word — it was altogether right and proper 
so to do. The plan originated in the ingenious mind of James 
M. Barnard, the philanthropist. Inspired with the thought 
when he first read Lincoln's preliminary proclamation in Sep- 
tember, he had opened the subject to John S. Dwight, whose 
enthusiasm and knowledge of musical ways and means deter- 
mined the form of the concert. An honorary committee of 
arrangements was brought together, among its members being 
Emerson, Longfellow, Whittier, Dr. Plolmes, Edward Everett 
Hale, James T. Fields, and F. H. Underwood. Mr. B. J. 
Lang undertook the work of drilling the chorus, Carl Zerrahn 
was to conduct the band of musicians which gave orchestral 
concerts in Boston, Otto Dresel promised to write music for 
Dr. Holmes's " Army Hymn," and to play the solo part in a 
Beethoven pianoforte concerto. 

In the selection of the numbers for the programme Dwight's 
sure instinct and exacting taste were seen. " Patriotic con- 
certs," so called, with their lusty strains, were familiar 
throughout the North ; but this was not a time for " war 
songs" and "national airs." "The 'Hail Columbias' and 
' John Browns,' " wrote Dwight, "are all well enough in their 
way and in their proper places; but they have no right in an 



1906.] THE EMANCIPATION CONCERT IN MUSIC HALL. 249 

artistic programme, any more than cabbages and turnips in a 
bouquet of flowers. They will be all in all, or nothing ; so 
will art." Accordingly, the programme was thoroughgoing. 
" Every piece in it," he explained, " is good music, in the 
highest sense of Art ; yet every piece was sure (as it then 
proved) to interest an earnest miscellaneous audience, how- 
ever large, and make its poetic adaptation to the occasion 
felt." Besides three great orcliestral works of Beethoven — 
an overture, a concerto, and the Fifth Symphony — there were 
a long selection from Mendelssohn's " Hymn of Praise," a chorus 
from " Elijah," the " Hallelujah Chorus" from the " Messiah," 
the number by Dresel, and the overture to " William Tell." In 
point of length the concert-goer of to-day would be somewhat 
appalled by such a programme ; in the matter of quality there 
is nothing that he would not take quite as a matter of course. 

The practical arrangements for the concert presented not a 
few points of difficulty. When the plan was at last under 
way, the time was short, and the engagements of musicians 
were many. The orchestra, in particular, was to play on 
New Year's eve at a ball in Springfield. To the credit of 
the town there was more than one choral society ; by the 
same token there was jealousy. Accordingly, the members of 
the chorus had to be obtained by personal invitation and per- 
suasion, and the body formed was not homogeneous, wonted to 
itself. Worst of all, the most difficult piece on the programme 
had to be risked without a rehearsal of orchestra and chorus 
together. In spite of zeal on the part of leaders and rank and 
file, it was felt by everybody that if haply the concert should 
succeed it would be by faith and enthusiasm only, by the pure 
inspiration of the hour. 

New Year's eve was a night of wild storm, but the fear that 
the orchestra might be blocked on the road to Boston vanished 
when day brought clear sunshine and a brilliant sky. Of a 
large audience there had never been any doubt, and the num- 
bers who thronged to Music Hall early in the afternoon were 
a curious mingling of diverse elements in the life of the town, 
— abolitionists and musical amateurs, radicals and conserva- 
tives, — all brought together by the joint appeal of art and 
liberty. 

Gladly as they came, however, and eagerly as they waited 
the revelation of the music, their rejoicing for the negro and 

32 



250 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [AIay, 

his freedom was as yet only the rejoicing of liope. It was 
three o'clock on the afternoon of the first of January, but the 
President's proclamation of Emancipation had not been issued. 
In those days journalism when it had nothing to say practised 
the reserve of brevity rather than used verbiage, and the 
morning papers had contained nothing more than a two-line 
announcement that the proclamation would not be read}' till 
the next day. Historically speaking, this delay of a few hours 
is insignificant; emotionally, with that tense audience, it 
counted for much. They were met together to celebrate not 
the promise, but the deed. The deed was still wanting, and 
doubt and depression could have their wa}^ unhampered. To 
a city whose aristocratic instincts had been gratified by leaders 
like Daniel Webster and later Charles Sumner, — both men of 
magniloquent protestations, — the homely democratic fashion 
of Lincoln — "pegging away," in his own expressive phrase 
— seemed the outward sign of a mere hand-to-mouth politiuian. 
Such a man tlie people of Boston had not yet learned to trust. 
Here again, historically speaking, the doubt of the President's 
pledged word is absurd ; emotionally, its effect could not be 
disregarded. " As I walked about this morning," wrote one 
sensitive lady in Boston, from whose record of tlie celebration 
i shall quote frequently, " I listened every moment to hear the 
newsboys cry the Proclamation ; and as hour after hour passed 
and nothing came, the feeling of disappointment was very 
keen." 

This audience, swa3'ed by the blended sensations of expect- 
ancy, doubt, and joy, now heard the rap of the conductor's 
baton for attention. Announcement was made that Ralph 
Waldo Emerson would read by way of prologue a poem in- 
spired by the day. More tlian once had D wight urged upon 
Emerson the committee's request, but so uncertain had the 
poet been of his power to meet this supreme exigency that he 
had refused to allow his name to be put upon the programms. 
Inspiration, it seemed, was denied him ; as he wrote to 
Dwight, the poem was impossible without a good night's sleep, 
wliich lately he had souglit in vain. But at the eleventh 
hour the boon was granted, and he came to the hall fresli from 
the presence of his muse. " He was perfectly calm till he 
came forward," says the writer of the journal which I have 
already quoted, "and then his awkward, ungainly form ti-em- 



1906.] THE EMANCIPATION CONCERT IN MUSIC HALL. 251 

bled from head to foot with irrepressible excitement, and his 
eyes flashed with the true fervor of a poet. His poem was 
written upon different scraps of blue and white paper, and he 
kept them in place by placing a book over the edge of them 
on a music stand; but whenever he took them to turn one 
over, his hands could scarcely hold the sheet, and at all other 
times he kept them tightly clenched by his side, or moved 
them m nervous, strangely animated gestures. He seemed 
like the Pythian priestess, animated with the sacred fire " 
Indeed, the solemnity of an oracular utterance must have 
thrilled in the words: — 



" God said, I am tired of kings, 
1 suffer them no more." 



And ao-ain : — 



"To-day unbind the captive, 
So only are ye unbound ; 
Lift up a people from the dust, 
Trump of their rescue, sound ! 

" Pay ransom to the owner 
And fill his bag to the brim. 
Who is the owner ? The slave is the owner, 
And ever was. Pay him." 

The music began. The overture to " Egmont," with its mar- 
tial suggestions from trumpet, drum, and fife, was adequate for 
Its place. Then came the number on which was staked every- 
thing. In Mendelssohn's " Hymn of Praise " occurs a dramatic 
setting of the passage from Isaiah beginning, " Watchman 
what of the night?" First a tenor voice sings a set aria to' 
the words: "The sorrows of death had closed all around me 
and hell's dark terrors had got hold upon me, with trouble' 
and deep heaviness. Bat said the Lord, Come, arise from the 
dead, and awake thou that sleepest, I brin? thee salvation " 
Then follows a recitative, the voice flinoi„g out its phrases 
above the tense tremolo of the strings. " Watchman, will the 
night soon pass? The watchman only said: Though the 
morning will come, the night will come also. Ask ve, hiquire 
ye ask if ye will, inquire ye, return again, ask: Watchman, 
will the night soon pass?" Three times tJie cry to the watch- 
man is uttered, each repetition rising in pitch and in intensitv 
Between the calls the wood-wind utters anxious, penetrating 



252 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

cries. At the end the voice stands out alone, and when the 
last tone of the agonized inquiry ceases, there is silence. 
Heart-beats tell the length of it, while the audience waits and 
waits for the reply that must come : — 

" Why else was the pause prolonged but that singing might issue thence? " 

At last a single soprano voice, unaccompanied, mounting on 
the tones of the major chord, and dwelling on one high note, 
brings the answer. "■ The night is departing, departing." The 
full orchestra comes crashing in, and the chorus, taking up 
the melody and the words, sings jubilantly, " The night is 
departing, the day is approaching ; therefore let us cast off the 
works of darkness, and let us gird on the armor of light. The 
night is departing." Never could music be more precisely 
adapted to the event. " That moment," is written in the 
journal, " can never be forgotten ; it contained all of feeling 
that we are capable of; we understood the whole then." 

Still another climax of emotion was in store for the audi- 
ence. Let it be told in words written on that day. " As 
soon as the intermission commenced, Mr. Underwood came to 
the front of the platform and quietly said : ' Ladies and gentle- 
men, I am requested by the committee of arrangements to 
inform you that the expected Proclamation of the President 
has been issued and is now being transmitted over the wires 
to New York.' The scene that followed can be remembered, 
can be felt, but cannot be described. Indeed, in the midst of 
the strong emotions that crowded thick and fast, what passed 
before our eyes was scarcely seen and little noticed. Shouts, 
cheers, waving of handkerchiefs were confusedly mingled to- 
gether, almost deadened by the convulsive beating of my own 
heart. I think but one such moment can come to mortal man. 
Afterquiethad settled again over theexcited throng,Mr. Quincy, 
from a seat at the back of the house, read General Saxton's 
proclamation to the freedmen of South Carolina, summoning 
them to the headquarters of the First South Carolina Volun- 
teers to hear the President's Proclamation read January 1. 
Tliis was greeted with three cheers for Abraham Lincoln." 

Long as the concert was, with its choruses, its concerto, and 
its mighty symphony, inspiration was granted to those gathered 
there both to render and to listen ; upon floor and platform 
the genius of music wrought its perfect spell. One of the 



1906.] " EISE AND FALL OF TQE MODEL REPUBLIC." 253 

great issues of life stood revealed in terms of art ; in the cry 
of violins, the throb of drums, the uplifted song of many voices, 
was borne to the spirit of men the meaning of human freedom. 
And above them all stood the form of Beethoven, in his hand 
a scroll which bore the notes of the Choral Symphony, his own 
message bidding mankind to rejoice. 

The President presented a copy of Williams's " Rise and 
Fall of the Model Republic," and said : — 

Turning over, recently, certain literary material pertaining 
to the Civil War, with a view to relieving my book-shelves, I 
came across a volume, published in London in 1863, entitled 
The Rise and Fall of the Model Republic. Its author was one 
James Williams, a Southerner, and a man of some mark appar- 
ently, as on the title-page he is described as " late American 
Minister to Turkey." The book is dedicated to " The friends 
of rational liberty and to the adversaries of despotic govern- 
ment whether administered under the rule of a single tyrant 
or of a multitude." I have tried to get some further infor- 
mation about Williams, but with very unsatisfactory results. 
He seems still to be vaguely recalled in Eastern Tennessee 
as once " a flourishing man of considerable wealth," and 
the proprietor of a warehouse at Knoxville. What v/as 
known as an " old line Whig," he apparently joined forces 
with the Democrats in the presidential canvass of 1856, and 
rendered service on the stump and with his pen to the 
Buchanan cause. He was known as " Captain " Williams, 
and his appointment to Turkey, which he received from 
Buchanan in 1858, and held until the early part of 1861, was 
strongly recommended by Andrew Johnson among others. 
He published during the war a second work, entitled The 
South Vindicated, said to have been the first book copyrighted 
by the Confederacy ; but I have not come across any copy of 
it. One of the submerged in the Civil War deluge, he was 
never " reconstructed," and though it is believed that he 
visited the United States once or possibly twice after leaving 
Turkey, he never again resided here. He died in Gratz, 
Austria, about three years after the close of the war. His 
book is merely part of the flotsam of the great cataclj^sra, in 
which he seems to have been a minor actor, and of which he 
was one of the innumerable victims, now forgotten. 



254 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

Before disposing as mere rubbish of tlie copy of Williams's 
book, which somehow had come into my possession, I turned 
over its pages to see if there might by chance be in it some- 
thing of value. In doing so, I came across certain passages 
so very characteristic of the time and the temper of dis- 
cussion then prevailing, that they seemed to me worth pre- 
serving in our Proceedings, Taken as a whole the volume 
has no appreciable value ; but those particular passages ought, 
I thought, to be embalmed as flies in amber, — as curiosities 
of literature, if nothing more. 

Moreover, it is always desirable to avail ourselves of any 
opportunity to see ourselves through others' eyes. A good 
view of this kind can hardly fail to be calutary. In this 
volume, for instance, I find a pen-and-ink porti'aiture of the 
New England congregationalist minister. There have always 
been a number greater or less of this highly respected class on 
the rolls of our Societ3^ We have some now. It therefore 
affords me no inconsiderable satisfaction to hold this looking- 
glass up before our associates, Dr. De Normandie and Dr. 
Gordon, and ask them whether, in the image reflected, they 
fail to see themselves : — 

" Behold the descendant of the Puritan ! Two hundred years have 
wrought many changes in the moral, political, and social world. Kings 
have become plebeians, and plebeians kings. Empires have passed 
away, and others have been created. Old systems have been super- 
seded by new ones, and whether or not the woild has grown better 
and wiser its whole aspect has been altered. But the Puritan of the 
type we are now considering has remained unchanged in the harsh 
features of his nature, however much he may have been obliged to 
yield to the force of public opinion in the outward manifestations of his 
ruling passion. Pie is no more a regicide, because in the laud where 
his lot is cast there are no more kings to kill. He no longer drowns 
or burns witches, for his ancestors exterminated them long ago. He 
no longer buys and sells savages in order to ' bring them to a knowl- 
ege of the true and living faith,' for the last Indian of all the tiibes 
which peopled the wilderness has perished before the unrelenting 
despotism which was enforced against them by his foreAithers. He no 
longer hangs other Christians, nor inflicts upon them the more lenient 
chastisement of stripes and banishment, for non-conformity to his pecu- 
liar doctrines ; but he would exterminate the Southerners with fire and 
sword, because they are not willing to submit to his dictation in the 
management of their domestic affairs. He would enslave, or if need 



1906.] "RISE AND FALL OF THE MODEL REPUBLIC." 255 

be, slay twenty millions of freemen in order to confer upon four mil- 
lions of Africans what he calls freedom ; but he would re-enslave these 
again if they transgressed one jot or tittle of the moral law as 
expounded by himself. 

'' He whom we are now considering is not only a parson — an 'ex- 
pounder of God's word,' and a teacher of morals, but he is a politician. 
He does not preach to-day in the pulpit against the sins denounced by 
Christ and his apostles, and deliver a stump speech to-morrow upon the 
party politics of the day ; but in either place and in all places he blends 
the duties of the two together. His sermon is always a political 
harangue interlarded with phrases originating in the rum-shop — his 
political harangue a sermon abounding in scriptural quotations. He 
may only be properly described by the appellation of ' political parson.' 

" You search in vain over the lines of his strongly marked counte- 
nance, and gaze into his cold calm eye, to find some trace of human 
sympathy or of human weakness. His features are never relaxed into 
a smile, except when he contemplates the consummation of some event 
which would make others weep. He feels no sentiment of compassion 
for the slave, but he hates the master with all the ferocity of his 
nature. His brow grows darker when he is told that the African slave 
is happy and contented with his lot ; but his soul is filled with a joy 
unspeakable as he listens to the recital of the bloody deeds of a John 
Brown ; and he straightway falls upon his knees and gives thanks to 
God that ' he has vouchsafed to his servant this great boon.' You may 
respect him for the strong points in his character ; but you would never 
seek to be his boon companion. He may excite an emotion of fear, but 
never a sentiment of love. Whether engaged in stealing slaves from 
the coast of Africa, or assassinating the white men to whom he sold 
them, for the sin of being slave-holders, he always professes to be 
' doing his duty as a servant of the Lord.' When the work of the day 
is finished he sings a psalm, reads a chapter in the Bible, says a 
prayer, and retires to the enjoyment of tranquil slumbers." 

Burns long ago exclaimed : — 

" Oh wad some power the giftie gie us 
To see oursels as others see us ! " 

and in this case, so far as the congregationalist divine is con- 
cerned, the prayer has been answered. In the portrayal I 
liave quoted it is now given to Messrs. De Normandie and 
Gordon to gaze on their own lineaments as seen by one 
portion of their fellow countrymen only half a century back. 

But, levity aside, I submit that the foregoing extract from 
a volume written by a Confederate, and printed in London in 



256 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

the year 1863, is a most suggestive and consequently valuable 
scrap of evidence for the historian of the Civil War period, — 
one well worthy of preservation. It throws a strong gleam of 
light on the psychological conditions which prevailed anterior 
to 1861, and led up to the crisis which then occurred. Some- 
where in the correspondence of the late Dr. Francis Lieber 
there is a remark I have seen quoted, I think by our associate 
Mr. Rhodes,! that, during the period immediately antecedent to 
the Civil War, the North and South reproduced the conditions 
noticed by some classic Greek observer at the time of the 
Peloponnesian War. The two parts of the common country 
were unintelligible to each other, — they spoke different 
languages. The extract I have given from Williams's book 
affords a good illustration of the correctness of this remark. 
Another illustration, on the other side, might be found in 
fiction by turning the pages of Uncle Tom's Cabin, and in fact 
in the John Brown raid. John Brown, it will be remembered, 
was absolutely persuaded that the condition of slavery was so 
cruel and so abhorrent to the black that it would only be 
necessary to raise the standard of insurrection to cause all 
Virginia to break into revolt. Three years later practical 
experience convinced us that the presence of the Union 
armies in the heart of the slave States led to no servile unrest. 
As for Uncle Tom and Legree, they were just about as remote 
from the general Southern standard of slave and slave-driver 
as Mr. Williams's congregationalist minister is from those 
of the type intimately known by us here. The one and 
the other were equally caricatures.^ Yet each side believed 
implicitly in the correctness of its own characterization of 
the other. Unless this fact is firmly grasped by the historian 
through just such contemporary portrayals as that quoted from 
the volume I now present to the Society, the true inwardness of 
the situation which made inevitable our Civil War cannot be 
understood. 

Mr. James Ford Rhodes read a paper of considerable 
length entitled " Negro-carpet-bag-rule in South Carolina," 
which was listened to with much interest, and elicited remarks 

1 History of the United States, vol. ii. p. 189. 

2 In Jolni C. Reed's book The Brotliers' War there is a very suggestive 
chapter (pp. 161-207) on " Uncle Tom's Cabin," written from the standpoint of 
an intelligent Southerner forty years after Emancipation. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE, 25T 

from Messrs. Thomas W. Higginson and Moorfield Storey. 
As it was not the wish of the writer that this paper should be 
printed in the Proceedings, and as it is the recognized intention 
of the Society not to publish in its volumes discussions as to 
matters of recent political controversy, no abstract of this paper 
or of the discussion which followed its presentation is here 
given. 

Mr. Charles C. Smith communicated for Mr. Worthington 
C. Ford, of Washington D. C, a Corresponding Member, a 
large mass of letters written by William Duane, editor of the 
Philadelphia Aurora, with an introductory note by Mr. 
Ford : — 

Of the newspapers devoted to the Jefferson or anti- 
Federalist policy, the best known and perhaps the ablest 
edited was the " Aurora," published in Philadelphia. Estab- 
lished by Benjamin Franklin Bache, the grandson of Franklin, 
its purpose was to criticise the acts and intentions of the 
Federalists, of Washington and of John Adams, and to build 
up a Republican party in Pennsylvania. Bache died of a 
fever, and William Duane, an Irish-American, married the 
widow and succeeded to the editorship and proprietorship of 
the paper. As an editor he was much abler than Bache, 
better trained in writing, more experienced in management of 
men, and of more liberal political views. Bache criticised 
men rather than measures, while to Duane the policy rather 
than the man was the object of attack. 

Little is known of his early career, though it has been 
asserted that both in England and in India he had passed 
through a martyrdom, suffering for his too outspoken opinions. 
Public men were sensitive, but the large number of refugees 
who sought to escape persecution from those high in power 
by coming to the United States more than sufficed to supply 
the journals with able, unscrupulous, and often scandalous 
characters. Duane's exact offences in those two countries are 
not known ; but he came to Philadelphia and found congenial 
occupation on the " Aurora." His friendship, almost intimacy, 
and his loyalty to Jefferson constitute his claims for recogni- 
tion ; and the letters now printed prove this friendship, while 
casting a somewhat curious light upon his disinterestedness, 
upon the vicissitudes of journalism, and upon the views of 

83 



258 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

public office and its rewards entertained by himself and his 
great patron. His ambition was great, and his thirst for public 
employment insatiable. But his constant need for money 
curbed his endeavors and limited his activity, exercising a 
wholesome correction to a spirit that might have developed 
into the blackguardism of Callender, Lyon, or Cheatham, while 
obliging him to quarrel with his friends even more generally 
than with his enemies. The " Aurora " had a large circulation 
in its first years, but the actual advent of the Jefferson adminis- 
tration raised competitors, and Duane had a hard struggle to 
maintain himself by the newspaper. He sought aid again 
and again from Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, of whose cause 
he regarded himself the champion. Having snffered in the 
"• reign of terror," — the Republican name for the administra- 
tion of John Adams, — and having been persecuted by the 
Senate for his writings, he looked to his patrons for rewards 
adequate to his own idea of the debt. His wnsli to obtain 
government contracts for printing and stationery met with the 
approval even of Gallatin, who w^as persenally above any 
suspicion of wrong intent. 

Albert Gallatin to Thomas Jefferson. 

[December 15, 1801.] 

Dear Sir, — The enclosed requires but little comment. TThy M' 
Beckle\- did not divide the printing between ^V Duane and M"" Smith 
I do not know ; but I am sure that most of our friends are so cha- 
grined at it, that they speak of altering the rules of the House, so as to 
have the printer appointed by the House & not by the clerk. ]NP Smith 
came here before the fate of the election was ascertained, and at a risk. 
He was promised by myself and others every reasonable encouragement. 
But this cannot be construed into an exclusive monopoly. He has 
already the printing of the laws and of every department; and the 
Congress business might have been divided. 

I wish however that Mr. D's application for purchase of his 
stationary might be communicated to the several heads of Department ; 
and, if you think it proper, the letter being transmitted by you may be 
better attended to. We may in the Treasury purchase a part, but 
cannot pay until Congress shall have made an appropriation ; ours 
being exhausted. 

iSo letters which required immediate answer having been received 
these three days, I have delayed acting on them, until I had got rid of 



190C).] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 259 

the report to Congress. This is the reason of your not receiving any 
these two days. 

With sincere respect & Affection, your obed' Serv' 

Albert Gallatin. 

In the expectation of obtaining these contracts Duane 
opened a store in Washington, which was entirely unsuccessful 
from every point of view and left him in debt. Harassed by 
lawsuits and by finding increasing difficulty in obtaining the 
necessary credit or in continuing the old credits, he turned to 
other occupations, and the troubles with England pointed to a 
military career as possible and even profitable. His Military 
Library is but little known and is less esteemed. As a money- 
making scheme it would not have succeeded ha'l he not sold 
an edition to the government, a sale based more upon favoritism 
than upon the merits of the work. His career in the army 
was of little credit to himself, and is told in brief in the 
Memoirs of John Quincy Adams. ^ Poor, embarrassed, and by 
his conduct deprived of friends, Duane sought many ways of 
bettering his condition, but with little success. 

As his financial troubles became worse, his temper became 
more uncertain and irascible. No one appeared to trust him, 
his friends fearing him quite as much as did his enemies, and 
never knowing the da}' when he would turn upon them and 
abuse them with the knowledge he had gained in their inter- 
course. He criticised Madison and opposed Monroe ; he 
fought Gallatin for reasons wdiich had little foundation and 
were peculiarly exasperating to Gallatin's friends. His course 
in State politics was marked by a personal and intemperate 
bias that made him feared and hated. He was on the losing 
t^ide, and the "Aurora" became less and less influential 
and profitable, and ceased to be the organ of Republicanism. 
Jefferson remained his fi'iend, seeking opportunities to aid 
him, and Duane remained loyal to Jefferson ; yet even Jefferson 
recognized his errors. He wrote in 1811 : " I believe Duane 
to be a very honest man, and sincerely republican; but his 
passions are stronger than his prudence, and his personal as 
well as general antipathies render him very intolerant." Thir- 
teen years worked no change, and Duane transferred his pen 
to the aid of the opponents of the Republicans. John Quincy 

^ See vol. V. pp. 112, 117. 



2G0 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

Adams describes him as a man of talents, having much knowl- 
edge crammed without order or method into his head, and 
of indefatigable industry. But he was known to be in the 
market for sale to the highest bidder, and these letters measure 
the burden of debt as well as the burden of moral qualities 
that invited hostility rather than friendship. 

To . 



Philadelphia, April 17, 1800 

The cabinet here is in a very discordant condition. They hang to- 
gether only like wretched mariners on detached planks ; if one lets go, 
the whole go. You will be surprised to learn that an indictment has been 
found against me for publishing the celebrated letters of Listoji, seized 
on Sweezey. The sheriff of Berks and two others are included in the 
indictment; but, more strange still! they were sent to me, and published 
by the express direction of Gov. Mifflin, after being opened by the 
express authority of Robert Wharton, our good Major. 

I am told that they have withdrawn the indictment found against 
me, at Norristown, last fall, predicated on my assertion concerning 
British influence, as declared by Mr. Adams. It seems they found out 
that I had the actual letter of Mr. Adams in my possession. 

Mr. Cooper, late of Manchester (you know him personally and well), 
is to be tried on sedition on Saturday. He pleads his own cause. He 
applied for a subpoena of the President yesterday. The court refused ; 
and, as I have be«n told, the judge declared that the President could 
not be affected by any legal proceedings, unless by an impeachment; so 
that we have one man above the law. Chase presides, and Peters is 
the puisne judge. I have not been out of town ; have lived mostly 
in my own house ; and have been several times on the parade with the 
legion. [Mr. Duane is a captain, we believe, in that corps.] I keep 
retired only because there is no magistrate to be found, who has a 
knowledge of his duty and his rights, or virtue or courage to act upon 
the habeas corpus right. If there were, I should take care to be arrested 
immediately. In the present circumstances, my only course is to defeat 
their malice, and give a good example to others. 

Yours, 

William Duane. 

To Thomas Jefferson} 

Washington, March 1, 1801 
Sir, — The papers accompanying were given me for communication 
to you, they originated in the following manner. Prior to my setting 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



190G.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 261 

out for Lancaster in the month of October last, Mr. Lee, the person 
^yhom they concern, called on me and stated that he had been dismissed 
from his situation for discovering the removal of papers from the De- 
partment of State by means of a false key, and wished me to publish 
the facts. I objected to publish unless he would commit the matters 
to writing and depose to them before a magistrate, which he offered to 
do. Thereupon I wrote a note to Mr. Gardner, requesting him to at- 
tend to the matter while I was absent, which he did, and the matters 
stated in the accompanying papers were given in the presence of Mr. 
Gardner and Mr. James Ker, of Philadelphia. I did not think the 
facts so strongly stated as he at first represented them to me, and there- 
fore did not publish them. 

The receipt of a letter from Mr. Gardner induces me to lay the papers 
DOW before you. The poor man appears to have been sacrificed for his 
fidelity, and to be reduced to the extreme of wretchedness. Perhaps 
in any arrangements that may be hereafter made, some situation of 
ecjual value with what he held before might be found in the Custom 
house or elsewhere. 

I have no other knowledge of the man than what arises from the 
occurrences in this case— and am impelled only by duty to present 
the papers and state what I know on the subject, submitting the case 
with deference to your consideration. 

I am with respect, your obedt. Servt. 

Reed. March 2. [Endorsement by Jefferson.] 

To Jefferson} 

Philadelphia, May 10, 1801 

Sir, — Mr. W. P. Gardner who will present this letter carries with 
him a small box containing impressions of two medals, which I have 
had by me some time past waiting for an opportunity safe and suitable. 
Mr. Gardner is a man of great worth in every civil relation, and is one 
of those who was compelled to quit the Treasury Department thro' 
the injuries done him on account of his political opinions. He is no 
ordinary man, and to his private virtues and political integrity I can 
testify. He is a native of this city. 

The medals of which you will receive copies were engraved by a 
young man of the name of C. J. Reick^ a native of Germany, but a re- 
publican, and on that account obliged to fly his native country. It 
appears that he engraved the medal of Italicus in secret, and from his 
own account had an interview with the hero at Rastadt. It seems that 
in order to come to the United States, he had indented himself, and is 
now in this city, tho' not in absolute indigence or villainage, is yet 

1 JefP. MSS. 



262 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

circumstanced so as to render his situation irksome to him, as must be 
supposeable from tlie merits of his works, and his personal manners. 

Hearing of his worth, and knowing what it is to be in a strange land 
without a knowledge of its language, it recurred to me, that the cap of 
liberty had been erased from our public coins, and other innovations 
of a tendency correspondent with the views of certain weak men made 
during the last administration ; and hearing on enquiry, that there were 
public medals to be cut ; I thought it a duty in various respects to rescue 
this man if possible from the unfitness of his condition, and to make his 
merits known to you. 

As a connoisseur I do not pretend to judge of the Medals, but as a 
person conversant with analogous branches of the arts, they strike me 
as of superior character. If on consideration the merits of the artist 
should be such as to entitle him to your patronage, and there are any 
services in his profession upon which he could be employed, it would 
greatly serve the man, and afford me extreme delight to have been the 
means of rescuing him from his present situation. I advised him to 
draft a letter to you, which he did in German, of which a translation, 
tho' very imperfectly done, I think proper to forward herewith. His 
application is confined to the knowledge of two others and myself. 
Should there be any commands for him, I shall with great pleasure 
receive and communicate them to him. 

Permit me to mention, that I have found it necessary to enter into the 
Stationary and Bookselling business, the hostility of the Custom House, 
and the abuse in the Post Office, rendering all ideas of profit from my 
newspaper hopeless. Should no engagements be made for the supply of 
Stationary for the public offices, I shall be obliged by the contracts for 
that service, which 1 trust I shall be able to execute as well and on as 
reasonable terms as any other person. 

If no arrangements have been made for obtaining the books to supply 
the public Library, ordered by the late Congress, my acquaintance with 
men of letters in England, and the most eminent Booksellers, would 
enable me to procure them with more advantage than any other person 
not simdarly circumstanced could. 

These favors I should be grateful for, and as they are professional, 
I trust it will not be considered as presuming that I suggest them. In 
the season of danger I laid aside personal consideration, in the return 
of a milder season it is incumbent upon me to make provision for my 
little progeny, and the little progeny of my predecessor, the descendants 
of Franklin who have become mine, to which another has been just 
added by the birth of a daughter. 

I have not permitted myself to touch upon politics, because I am not to 
suppose that you have not other channels by which you can obtain infor- 
mation from hence; and particulaily as I am apprehensive of intruding 



190().] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 263 

too much upou your leisure. If, however, it should be supposed that 
the confideuce which is reposed in me should enable me to give less 
partial views of the state of parties and political interests and characters 
in this state, than those who are the interested actors in them, I shall 
be at all times ready to state faithfully and if necessary frequently such 
information as may appear to me useful and authentic ; at present I 
think it of the utmost importance that the true state of politics in Penn- 
sylvania should be known, particularly as an election occurs in October, 
and a governmental Election not far remote, for which movements are 
already making. 

I have the honor to be your sincere and respectful serv*. 

Tuesday noon. The trial on the Indictment at the instigation 
of the Senate, postponed this instant to October, then to be tried 
peremptorily ! ! ! 

Dr. Franklin's daughter, Mrs. Bache, is now at table, and requests 
to be particularly remembered to you. 

To James Madison. 

Philadelphia, May 10, 1801 

Sir, — Without any other title to the liberty I take, that [than] 
what may be allowed me from the respect I have learned to entertain 
for your virtues and talents, exerted in the cause of my country, and 
which I have in a much humbler sphere endeavored to emulate, I now 
take the liberty of addressing you, and even in this first instance to 
solicit a favor. 

The publication of " Tlie Aurora " tho' more extensive in its circu- 
lation than any other paper in the Union, is so much cramped in its 
funds by the active hostility of the Custom House, that the only source 
of profit to such a paper that of Adiiertising is too inadequate to render 
it a pursuit eligible for any man who has a family to provide for in any 
other than times where public security supercede the calls of personal 
Interest. I believe I have not been backward in the season of danger. 
In this halcyon j^eriod it is necessary that I should provide for the 
little progeny of my own, and the little progeny of my jjredecessor, the 
descendants of Franklin, who by marriage have fallen under my wing. 
I have therefore sought to establish myself in a business analogous to 
that with which habit and experience have made me familiar — I mean 
the bookselling and Stationary business. 

My present purpose is to solicit, should no engagements be already 
made, that I may have the supply of the Department of State with 
Stationary of every description. 

Permit me also to suggest, that as provision has been made for fur- 
nishing a library for tlie use of Congress, that I should be glad to 



264 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

undertake the provision of such books as may be required, and as I 
have had some experience, having resided in England for five years, 
and am acquainted not only vi^ith the first booksellers but numbers of 
the first literary characters in that Country, I could undertake the 
importation of the Books for the public Library under advantages that 
few others possess. 

I have not hitherto asked any favor of the administration, tho' 
honored by the confidence and good opinion of I believe the majority 
of the People of America — and I seek no other favor than such as 
may be given and received with houor and independence to the Admin- 
istration and to me. 

I took the liberty of addressing a letter to Mr. Lincoln a few days 
ago, wherein I urged, that it would be rendering an useful service to 
the public, and to the republican printers, if the latter were authorised 
to publish the Laws of the Union upon these terms. That such papers 
only should be authorised to print them, as it was intended should be 
in future authorised; that if contracts had been made to the amount 
authorised by law with other printers by the late administration, 
then those who should now be authorised should not demand pay- 
ment unless Congress should be willing to grant it ; this step would 
contribute to the circulation of the laws themselves, and of the republi- 
can newspapers, and it would counteract in a degree the artful stroke 
of the late administration of pensioning papers in advance to oppose 
the present administration. If it were necessary, I could furnish a 
list of all the papers which have been so active and useful as to lay 
claim to the attention of the administration. 

If at any time any service might be required of me, or any political 
information concerning this city or state, it would give me particular 
satisfaction to furnish any service of which I am capable for the public 
advantage. 

I am, Sir, with Sincere respect and esteem 
Your obedt Ser' 

W** DuANE, Editor of the Aurora. 

To Jefferson} 

Philadelphia, June 10, 1801 

Sir, — - 1 was honored by yours of the 23 May, which I should have 
acknowledged before could I have found a person to whose care I 
might entrust the delivery of a letter. Lieut. IMcIlroy, late com- 
mander of the Augusta, has informed me of his intention to proceed 
this morning, and I embrace the opportunity of writing by him. Mr. 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 2G5 

Mcllroy it appears incurred the enmity of captain Sever, by drinking 
Mr. Jefferson's health in the West Indies and attributes his dismission 
to that and the like political causes, which he considers as particularly 
unfortunate at this time from the experience which he had as an officer 
for six years in the Mediterranean on boaj'd a British ship of war, in 
which he rose by merit, tho' originally impressed. I mention these 
facts from a conviction of their truth, and my personal knowledge of 
his uncommon merits as a seaman. 

The death of F. A. Muhlenburg on the 4th inst. has produced a 
change iu the political prospects in this st-ate. His conduct on the 
British treaty lost him the confidence of all the independent republi- 
cans ; the opposite party had determined to run him for Governor, on 
finding that the General would not be made their instrument ; which, I 
believe, from his being the real agitator of the schism which took place 
iu the last session of our legislature, he would have been willing to 
become. There is no other character among the Germans of talents 
and standing equal to the deceased ; his capacity as a G^erman writer 
was admired, and there does not appear to be any one equal to him 
left. Some of the Germans talked of General Heister, but he is too 
honest a man to submit to any measure that could produce a division. 
The consolidation of the republican interest will therefore depend in 
the first instance on the degree of countenance which the violent men 
in office meet with, and on the precautions of the Governor in his 
appointments. There are many disaffected to him, on account of some 
few appointments already made, and as is usual without just grounds 
of dissatisfaction. But I make no doubt, that upon the removal of men 
who have been oppressors and persecutors here, the effect will be a 
more firm and general adherence than even in the last general Election 
to the principles by which alone security can be obtained. The con- 
tinuation of Humphrys as naval constructor has given considerable 
disquiet, the communications which I have had concerning him, his 
abuses of trust and wrongs to individuals for opinion sake, would fill 
several sheets. The remembrance of his son being appointed to France 
for his assault on Ben. Franklin Bache is as strong as if it happened 
but a month since. Ever since I have been confined, the repub- 
licans and men too of the first credit and standing iu the southern dis- 
trict of this city have repeatedly applied to me for information. I have 
stated as my opinion that nothing would be done hastily, but upon due 
enquiry no man who had abused his trust to corrupt or persecuting 
purposes would obtain the confidence of the administration. As thev 
are so kind as to repose considerable confidence in my opinions, I appre- 
hend these assurances tend to quiet them in some measure, tho' there 
are numbers discontented at the continuance in office of the three 
principal officers of the Customs. 

34 



266 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

I communicated to Mr. Reich (tlie Medal Engraver) the intimation 
to wait on Mr. Boudinot, which I suppose he has done. 

What you are pleased to say with regard to tlie prosecutions exactly 
agrees with ray recollection. I do not precisely recollect what I said to 
Mr. Gallatin, but when I wrote him I was under the impression, that 
a course different from your wishes had been pursued. I understood 
that the Sedition Law being unconstitutional, it would be treated as a 
nullity ; but when I wrote, the i^rosecution was then coming on in 
court under that law. I could account for this in no other way but by 
supposing that Mr. Lincoln or jNFr. Dallas had mistaken your senti- 
ments, because the agitation of the question in court under that law 
appeared to me, a recognition of its validi:;y. I feared nothing from 
the goodness of Mr. Lincoln's heart, but I apprehended lest he should 
be apprel'snsive of meeting the displeasure of his Eastern friends by 
openly opposing that Law ; and that therefore his instructions to Mr. 
Dallas were not so strong as were necessary, or so precise as the 
sjjirit of your intentions demanded. It was peculiarly irksome to me 
on many accounts. T was deprived of Mr. Dallas's legal aid, and IMr. 
Cooper was engaged in the mission to Luzerne in this State, but 
remained solely to defend me. Mr. Dickerson tho' possessing the 
purest esteem and the best dispositions, yet from his youth could not 
appear to advantage against Mr. Ingersol, a man who entertains the 
most incurable hatred for me, and was the instigator of the attack 
which has robbed me of my birthright for the present. I do not 
recollect feeling any sentiment of dislike to a change of Judicature, and 
I am sure no change could be worse, from a court where the clerk 
contrives to pack the Juries out of men who were British soldiers 
in arms against American Independence and Tories who have never 
renounced their sworn allegiance to George III. of which a late Jury was 
composed. Indeed after my efforts to obtain Evidence at Washington, of 
which General Mason or his brother J. T. Mason can inform you, I 
see no prospect of ever obtaining any evidence : and if it should ever 
come on again, I must be obliged to submit it to the discretion of the 
court ; tho' no man can doubt the truth of every tittle uttered in the 
publication. Could the evidence be brought forward, I certainly was 
willing to stand a fair trial, but the Court has decided that a commis- 
sion is a matter of favor — that as 1 knew the Congress was to be 
removed to Washington I ought to have considered that before I pub- 
lished — and that I would have the benefit only of such evidence as 
was within a given distance ! 

There have been so many of these prosecutions, that I was really 
bewildered by the mass of evidence necessary to meet them. To have 
gone to Court upon them all would have left me no time to transact 
my ordinary business, and Mr. Dallas has so generously and zealously 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 267 

undertaken my defence on all these cases, that I have avoided wherever 
I could intruding upon him, leaving to the approach of term the 
arrangements to be made. I had sj^oken to him, however, to obtain a 
state of the causes, which he undertook to forward himself. At present 
I have no opportunity of communication with him, but upon a deliber- 
ate consideration of the situation in which I have stood, and now stand, 
and the feelings of my family, I do not hesitate to solicit a nolle prosequi 
upon that prosecution. 

In absolute peril or in a great struggle for a great good, I believe I 
should be one of the last to shrink from danger or contest. I am 
neither shaken in my principles nor broken in spirit. But after the 
turbulent contest which I have gone thro' with this most remorseless of 
factions, and injured as I have been in the stigma put on me, contrary 
to precedent, and under the refusal to accept a crowd of authentic docu- 
ments as collateral evidence of my birth and attachment to my country, 
I am shocked. I begin to feel the injury I have sustained, and to con- 
sider that it has been done, because I was not base — but because I 
have been formidable to oppressors. I look at my family and I see 
united in it those who have been long the victims of Federal persecu- 
tion along with my off-spring, combining the claims of eight years contest 
and persecution : the descendants of Franklin and the beloved wife of the 
amiable and good Bache, become my inheritance and my delightful care. 

When I see all my countrymen at peace, and republicanism diffus- 
ing concord and harmony, under the reign of liberty and moderation, 
I cannot but think it hard that I alone should still remain the victim. 
If I stood alone, had I no concerns but those which are personal, I 
should scorn to look behind ; but when at this moment a combination 
is entered into to prevent the purchase of books or stationary at a 
store which I have opened upon a credit — when the Collector of the 
Customs, seeks to deter Auctioneers and Merchants from advertising 
in my paper — and when all the profits arising from that paper, do not 
enable me to disencumber myself from the debts with which it was 
incumbered during the unexampled struggles and sacrifices of my pre- 
decessor, I think I should be insensible to my family interests, if I 
were not to solicit such protection as may be fairly and justly held out 
to me, considering that all the hostility towards me arises from the 
very efforts against those who seek to overwhelm me. 

I had determined before the election, that upon the success of the 
people's choice, I should dispose of the paper and pursue another pro- 
fession, but I find the hatred so violent against me that it would follow 
me for ever, and in any other situation I should not possess such formi- 
dable means of defence. But the paper, tho' it maintains my familv, 
affords no surplus, even to discharge old debts, which has induced me to 
extend my views to the bookselling and stationary 5 if encouraged in 



268 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. []\Iay, 

these I may still thrive, or if changes take place here which would 
influence the mercantile interest, my business would reward ray past 
and future industry. 

I have taken the liberty to speak without reserve, because I entertain 
that opiuioii of your liberality that you will excuse it. The world 
think me making a fortune, because I am always cheerful ! My 
friends think it unnecessary to be very particular in their favors in the 
way of business, because they say industry and talents like mine will 
always meet reward ! The best paper in the United States must of 
course be the most profitable ! But they never consider that there is 
more money spent in making it a good paper, and more labour than 
on any two papers in the union ! and that this must be the case, or it 
must become as vapid and dull as those that are more profitable and 
printed cheaper ! 

I proposed giving you an outline of the late legal proceedings, but 
have already taken too much of your time. It is my purpose to peti- 
tion Congress, and submit to its decision the evidence which the Circuit 
Court refused. 

It is my purpose to carry a sufficient supply of Stationary to Wash- 
ington, if I should be so fortunate as to be favored by the heads of 
departments — but unless I have an assurance of their support I cannot 
subject myself to the heavy debt which I should incur by making a 
suitable provision. If I had an estimate of the quantities required 
for a given time, and assurance of fjivor, I could obtain a stock instantly 
to any amount. 

Believe me with the most sincere respect and attachment, your obed' 
Servant. 

To Joseph Nancrede} 

Philadelphia, 30 September, 1801 
Dear vStr, — I received your two letters of the 11th duly, and have 
ordered as you desire your subscription to cease. Your favoring me 
as you propose with information from Europe will be a favor which I 
shall acknowledge with gratitude, and for which the public will have a 
right to be thankful, for in the present enslaved state of the press in 
every nation of Europe no faithful information can be had from amj^ 
and truth is only to be arrived at by a judicious examination of what 
is suffered to be promulgated by rivals. 

If you could by any means prevail upon any respectable bookseller 
in London to become my correspondent, it would be rendering me an 
essential service. You know very well my present standing, and my 
having now the contract for serving the public offices of government 
with stationery, and the Congress ; there can be no doubt of my arriving 

1 Bookseller in Boston. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 269 

at such a rank in the book-selling and stationery business as must 
render my correspondence a very eligible one to any man in trade in 
London. I should prefer the Robinsons, Johnson, or Debrett in Lon- 
don, next to them West & Co., Paternoster Row. Should you recollect 
these hints when in London, as it could not interfere with any pursuit 
of yours, or of any other friend, it would be doing me a service that I 
should be proud and ready to return to you on any occasion in any 
other shape. 

Your friend Dennie, I admired many years ago, and I believe I was 
one of the first in America wlio paid the tribute which I conceived due 
to his rising talents. He was then known to me only by his writings, 
and not by name. I consider him still as possessing talents. But 
Pickering whose touch was contagious, ruined him by the aid of bad 
company here, and the rarity of genius and talent among the growth of 
mercenary young men, he was dazzled and deceived into an opinion of 
his powers, extremely above their real level. He came to Philadelphia 
expecting to find this city inhabited by such men as Mecasnas and 
Cosmo di Medici, but he found that his patrons were Tarquins without 
magnificence, and Walpoles without profusion. He thought their reign 
eternal and his fame and fortune secure as if all his fancies were real- 
ities. He has been disappointed in everything, and has acted with the 
indiscretion of a man of no genius. He lost himself and he forgot his 
country. He was unfortunate in every step and in every project — 
even the Port Folio is now tumbling under its own weight. If you 
have anything to do with his partner Dickens settle it before you go. 
Young Fenno, part of whose strangely acquired stock in trade they had, 
has been in this city till this day — bringing about an account which 
appears to have been saddled with a profusion of luxurious expence. 
I suspect Denny will go to England — where he will experience ten 
thousand disappointments which he never dreamt of, and he will there 
either see his folly and repent — or sink into But I most sin- 
cerely wish him a better fortune and a better fate than he has plunged 
himself into. The Port Folio can not outlive the year. It has out- 
lived its popularity even with its patrons already ! I am sorry to have 
been obliged to contribute to its fall — but I conceived it my duty to 
attack it, manfully and not meanly as I have been attacked. 

I am very much gratified to hear that Mr. Tytler has undertaken 
System of Geography, for a thousand reasons. His talents, his inde- 
pendence of mind, and above all the deplorable ignorance which pre- 
vails thro' every System published hitherto on the subject, requires 
something to be done. I am proud it is to be done here and by Mr. 
Tytler, whom tho' I do not personally know, I have long respected. 
I was personally acquainted in London with his brother who at that 
time wrote for the Whitehall Evening Post. 



270 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

I think you are perfectly right in excluding all matter of a mere 
political nature. 1 do not mean thereby the desertion of truth or cor- 
rect principles such as were laid down by Locke and Rousseau. But 
such as are merely of a party nature. Geography is in fact wholly 
political, as it relates to the power, territory, production, &c., and pop- 
ulation of countries. It would aflford me the utmost pleasure to con- 
tribute all the knowledge I may possess, but I could render Mr. Tytler 
very little information excepting in what relates to Asia only, where 
several years residence and an attempt to compile a Gazette of Asia 
while there made me better acquainted with that part of the world than 
persons who have not had the same opportunities. I once began a 
Geographical Gazetteer of India with the sanction of Sir Wm. Jones 
and Sir John Shore, and was permitted access to the Documents of the 
Revenue Department at Calcutta — but I was afterwards stopt, — for 
what reason I was only left to conjecture ! 

What aid I could lend I would most cheerfully do it, but I tiiink the 
most serviceable aid I could give would be to point out i\iQ fallacies 
and mistakes of former Systems. I have not seen Mr. Tytler's Geog- 
raphy in Octavo, but I make no doubt that there are many corrections 
made by him. Indeed in Salmon's and Guthrie's — almost every thing 
is said but what is fact concerning Asia. They have the outline of the 
Map, and some names, but every thing else belongs as much to Africa 
as to Asia. If I could have a perusal of the work which is to be the 
Skeleton of the new system I could very easily go thro' it in a reason- 
able time. The system laid down in your circular is excellent, and I 
make no doubt it will repay your pains and expenses with profit. It 
ought to [be] printed, and the engravings in the best Style possible, in 
which case you would in Europe only find a market for three or four 
thousand copies. 

It would be impossible for you to derive advantage from the mode in 
which you put vour requisition for Information generally ; if you were 
to put particular questions on the various points, and request answers 
to them, you would derive great advantage — for example a series of 
printed questions numbered addressed to every member of Congress at 
the next Session would secure you information and perhaps subscribers. 
Some of your questions might be stated in this way — 

" 1. Are the latitude and longitude of the towns in your district 
accurately laid down ? 

" 2. What are the natural productions in your district different from 
those that surround you ? 

"3. What has been the increase of population in your state, county, 
or township ? " &c., «fec. 

Accept my respectful wishes for your success. 

Wm. Duane. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 271 



To Pierce Butler} 

Philadelphia, Nov. 12, 1801 

jy. Sir, — I should have replied to yours of the 19'^ inst. before, 
had uot the urgency of law in the first instance and my Stationary 
engagements for Washington city engrossed the whole of the time that I 
could spare from ordinary duties. Major Jackson has not for some years 
appeared active in local politics. He wrote much in 1797, in the 
Philadelphia Gazette of which I had been Editor for several months. 
After Mr. Adams's election he sat down a while, but on the organiza- 
tion of the system of terror he began to write again in the same paper. 
He became somewhat active on the creation of MePhersou's Janissaries, 
and was appointed to stir up the Society of Cincinnati. He was ad- 
mitted to all the deliberations which Mr. Adams deigned to hold with 
his inferiors, and I have heard was much offended at the airs of supe- 
riority there assumed by the Great Man of Braintree. In our state 
election he did not appear openly in 1799, but he was very active in 
private and attended at Dunwoody's several times. In the 1799- 
1800 he was very indignant at the failure of Mr. Ross, and was among 
the most vociferous declaimers against the hotwater rebellion. He was 
one of those who recommended hanging on that occasion, and reprobated 
the pardons extorted by Mr. Dallas's memorial to Mr. Adams. The 
memorable meetings at Trenton were first made known to him in this 
city, and from ?l friend of his I had the facts which I published at that 
time, and which astonished him and others, tho' the major part of the 
public conceived the information unfounded. I knew them to be true 
by having another channel of information which was not known to the 
former, and both agreeing. Time has proved their truth, in the dis- 
grace of Pickering then foretold, and the fall of Hamilton's influence 
and office. Major Jackson from the spring of 1801, became extremely 
passive. Upon the approach of the Election of President he was invited 
out and called upon to aid in sustaining a party of which he was told 
he appeared to despair by his lukewarmness. The party was in fact 
divided and the majority of the Federalists here and in the legislature 
being in favor of Mr. Adams, Major Jackson who has [had] declared 
for Mr. C. C. Pinckney, quitted them, became wholly inactive and left 
the party to carry on their intrigues under the direction of the Tilgh- 
mans, Rawle, Lewis, Ingersoll, Gurney, Hollingsworth, etc. During 
the agitations occasioned by the uncertainty of the S. Carolina Votes, 
Major Jackson constantly attended the Coffee House, contrary to his 
usual custom, and once asserted that a letter had been received from 
you ^ intimating that Pinckney would be elected. He did not say that 

^ Jeff. MSS. 2 In t^g margin is written : "No such letter was written by P. B." 



272 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

he had the letter from you, but that he had heard you wrote such a 
letter ; which occasioned a very strong sensation here for some days ; 
and it occasioned a gala at Mr. Bingham's. 

When the truth of the Carolina vote came out, there was a total 
change. All the officers of the Customs assumed an air of moderation. 
I took notice of some of the acts of some of them, and Major Jackson 
called on me in the Printing office, when he produced a letter which he 
wished me to read, and asked me if I knew the handwriting with which 
I professed to be unacquainted. I knew it to be Mr. Jefferson's, but de- 
clined reading it as I did not know why it was produced. He informed 
me that it was a mistake very generally received that he was inimical to 
Mr. J. that on the contrary he had always adraii'ed his talents and virtues, 
and he was apprehensive that from what had been published in the Aurora, 
the Editor was under the same impression. I barely replied that I 
certainly had formed an opinion for myself on the subject. He requested 
me then to read the letter, which I did ; it was a letter of recommenda- 
tion, of date in either 1784 or 1785, expressed in general terms, stating 
Major Jackson to liave served with credit in the revolution, that he 
was a man of respectable talents, and an American ! I made no obser- 
vation, and he withdrew reasserting his very profound respect for Mr, 
Jefferson. 

He continued so strongly fixed in this change that when the French 
treaty came to be discussed, he maintained in a public speech, the 
excellency and advantages of that treaty, at the Coffee House, and de- 
clared that it ought to be ratified in all its parts ; and he wrote several 
sheets in defence of it. Some secret movement of which I have never 
been able to reach the bottom, produced a total change of opinion in 
him and Mr. Bingham, who at first agreed in the excellence of the 
treaty with France. Mr. Bingham was suddenly called to "Washington, 
voted for the rejection of the French treaty, and was the mover of the 
motion for rejecting the second article which was finally carried. 
Major Jackson made the discovery about the same time that he had 
been mistaken at first and unsaid publicly all that he had before publicly 
declared. 

During the contest on the Presidential question in Congress in Feb- 
ruary, Major Jackson chose his ground with perspicacity, and undertook 
to write Mr. Jefferson an assurance that all the Merchants of Philadelphia 
wished him elected. He called together those who had before divided 
with him in favor of Pinckney against Adams, and they drew up a 
paper (Jackson the Scribe) addressed to the Pennsylvania delegation 
recommending them to support Mr. JefTerson, a copy of which you will 
believe reached another place beside the professed destination. 

From that time to the late election he has acted with the utmost 
circumspection and silence. But the republicans in the Custom House, 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 273 

particularly Major Simons, feel the hatred he holds them in. His con- 
duct is not so insolent as heretofore, but it is superciliously insulting ; 
he apprehends that Major Simons will succeed to his situation (which 
I hope and trust will be the case) and renders the duty to him more 
severe and rigid than it ever has been. Major Jackson has made no 
open public efforts on the late election, his only step was giving his 
vote, and visiting others to excite them out. Latimer's conduct is in- 
tolerable, his malice in some late instances to some republican merchants 
is not to be described. Nothing will appease the people here but a 
complete sweep of the Custom House. 

I shall be at Washington on the 2P' and during the whole session. 
If I can be the means of any service or communicating any information 
it will afford me pleasure to shew my respect for you in that or any 
other way. Your obed' Servant 

To Jefferson} 

Washington, Jan. 7": 1802 

Sir, — The appearance of the Indian Chiefs in the House of Repre- 
sentatives this morning, has revived in my mind a subject upon which 
I have long reflected, and concerning which it was my purpose long 
since to have taken the liberty of addressing you. 

A consciousness of the superiority of the Whites, has at all times 
prevailed among the Indians and influenced them much more than the 
generally received notions, that they felt a consciousness of their 
superiority over the whites. 

To remove their prejudices would I respectfully presume be the most 
effectual mode of rendering them happy, securing their attachment to 
us, and for ever depriving European nations of their instrumentality. 

This I conceive might be effected by provisions for allowing each of 
the Indian Nations, a Representation in the Congress of the United 
States, under such limitations and conditions as would give them a due 
sense of their consequence in the American nation, and the common 
blessings and advantages which would accrue to them, by their incorpo- 
ration with a nation so important, and under circumstances perfectly 
analogous to their own ideas of delegation. 

I will not enter into a detail of the form of producing this momen- 
tous change. I flatter myself that the difficulties would be trivial, and 
the expence inconsiderable, compared with the advantages which it 
would produce to the Indians and to the Union. 

I can only just add, that this subject being mentioned a considerable 
time since to a Canadian Englishman, he deprecated the idea, and 
solicited earnestly that it might not be mentioned as it would destroy 

1 Jeff. MSS. 
35 



274 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

the British influence for ever, and throw the Fur trade wholly into the 
States. I am, Sir, &c. 

To Jefferson} 

W. Duane's respects. No copies of the Country Aurora have ever 
been reserved, and only ten of the daily paper ; if the Daily Aurora 
will be acceptable, it will be [have?] to be ordered from Philadelphia, 
as none of 1801 are yet bound. No map of Maryland is to be had 
here. I have ordered two different copies from Philadelphia, which 
if they should not be acceptable, or either of them, can be kept here 
for sale, they being iu demand. 

23d. April, 1802. 

To Abraham Bishop. 

Frankford, Aug. 28th, 1802 

Dr. Sir, — I think Mr. Atwater might enter into the Bookselling 
with advantage — and that he might find persons readily disposed to 
enter into engagements with him here, and at New York & Boston. — 
the circumstances of the place ajipear as you describe them peculiarly 
favorable. Attendance at the next fair would be the most likely mode 
to accomplish his views at once — any assistance in my power, in the 
way of trade or advice is at his command. 

Your book I received and thank you for it heartily. The fever at 
Philadelphia will prevent the- sale — however, we shall see in Octo- 
ber. At present the fever rages with extreme violence — the accounts 
of our Board of Health are not to be relied on — they are timid, and 
interested to conceal calamity, as they conceive. One of my news car- 
riers who remained against my consent was taken ill last night — there 
are not ten thousand people iu Phila. out of 60,000 and yet the con- 
tagion diffuses itself. 

I have had advice of your books being shipt for me but have not yet 
received them owing to the state of the City. It will be impossible to 
say what may be the prospect of sale for a second Edit, here till we 
have tried those that are on the way hither — if it were to sell equal 
with its value, I could speak on the subject. 

Your correspondence with D[ennistou] & Cheetham I lamented to 
see. I endeavoured to prevent its going on — and I regretted that my 
name had been introduced in the business, either on that point or any 
other. It was impossible for me with all my efforts to keep out of it — 
and in the general business I see I must take a very decided part soon. 
I did not authorize my name to be used as one who saw you at Lan- 
caster, nor was I advised of it or asked until I saw it iu print. The 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 275 

use must have been made upon the ground of letters written by me 
while we were at Lancaster, the' I never reported any such conversa- 
tion of yours. By the bye, I think a man who had never seen or 
known Mr. Jefferson, and had only heard of him thro' the calumnies of 
his adversaries, might very innocently have expressed such apprehen- 
sions as generally prevailed, that he wanted firmness and vigor &c. 
Many worthy men and warm admirers of Mr. Jefferson have suggested 
such doubts to me and expressed a fear that the mildness of his char- 
acter would be injurious to him. But I know many of these, who 
now know that he is by far the most decided and uniform character 
of the whole administration. Whether you ever uttered such senti- 
ments in my hearing or not I really cannot say. I do not recollect 
having ever said so — for indeed I pay very little attention to the 
conversations of men whom I do not Respect, aud I always since I 
knew you entertained the best opinion of your head & heart. 

I regret nevertheless that you noticed the note in the pamphlet 
because it is generally conceived that tho' you shew the most capacity 
you have the worst of the argument — and it is here with many 
believed, that you are actually entered into an understanding with what 
is called the little band, this was not believed before your correspon- 
dence — and it requires something on your part to remove the impres- 
sion. I can conceive your impressions in the controversy — but nine 
out of ten cannot. It appears to me of little consequence whether you 
did or did not of a morning or an evening express an opinion — at the 
period in question — Every man at that time looked round and thought 
for himself upon what appeared to him the most likely to serve the 
general interests of the republic. And no man can be condemned if he 
was so unfortunate as to be misinformed. The question indeed must 
come to a different issue now. — for it is gone too far to be within the 
power of the healing art. The question will be '' Has Mr. Jefferson 
fuljilled or disappointed the public expectations — or has he done what 
upon the whole is most for the honor and interest of the RepublicJ" The 
decision on this question may be made without taking what are the 
merits of Mr. Burr into view at all. But it will not be done so. 
Another question will then arise. Shall Mr. Burr be preferred to Mr. 
Jefferson ? This will involve the discussion which has been already 
protruded on the public — aud the occurrence of which I have lamented 
and still lament. 

I have not nevertheless, been without my opinion — nor have I been 
without solid reasons for the formation of one — which this is not the 
time to state — but I will state my opinions leaving the reasons to that 
period when it may be necessary to make them public (I hope it never 
may). But my opinion is that Mr. Jefferson has fulfilled the trust 
reposed in him to the public advantage and his own honor. 



276 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

I think Mr. Burr ought not to be preferred — nor put in competition 
with Mr. Jefferson. I could give you such solid reasons as might 
perhaps surprise you — reasons personally known to me and communi- 
cated to a few only that 1 may he exonerated from improper motives in 
my withholding them from the public now. My wish was to prevent 
any schism — or at least the appearance of it — I could not prevent it, 
but this was owing greatly to the incurable indiscretion of a young man 
named Davis in N. York — who being refused a lucrative office in 
N. Y. has been the cause of the explosion. Davis has just addressed 
an impertinent letter to me, which I shall answer in a way that will 
surprize him, and if he has only the indiscretion to publish it, I must at 
once enter the field against Mr. Burr. I am under no obligation to 
one or the other — I never asked one or the other a favor. Mr. J. 
never tendered one, Mr. B. did — and I refused. So at least I stand 
independent of favor. In fact I am under no obligation to any man in 
America in any way that ought to control my opinion or bias my judg- 
ment. If I depended upon anything but my own activity and prin- 
ciples, I should have been left in the Slough of party long ago, trodden 
upon, and like my predecessor forgotten. My independence is my 
pride — and you saw enough of my domestic concerns to perceive that 
I am not the most miserable man in the world. In this state all con- 
fidence in Mr. B. is gone. Governor McKean is the man talked of as 
the future republican candidate for V. P. no other has been talked of, 
notwithstanding what has been said in the papers. Persons here who 
wish Mr. B. will have suffered in their popularity by defending Mr. B. 
and an argument used for encouraging an evening newspaper in Phila- 
delphia in opposition to mine, was that I was not decided against Mr. B. 
This did not shake my sentiments, as I am too well accustomed to 
things of this kind to mistake their effect or intention. Anything you 
chuse to write me on this subject shall be sacred. What 1 write you, 
you will perceive is an evidence of my respect & confidence in you. 

Yours sincerely. 

To Jefferson} 

Frankford, Octr 18, 1802. 

Sir, — The bustle attendant on our election affairs here will I hope 
excuse the delay of three days since the receipt of your letter. Upon 
the receipt of the Instructions concerning the Books from London and 
Paris, I immediately addressed the originals to Messrs. Johnson in Lon- 
don and Pougens in Paris, with Duplicates of each in my handwriting 
to Mr. Erving and Short, directing the Booksellers to call on those 
Gentlemen. I fear the removal of Mr. Short may retard the business 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 277 

at Paris ; the business in London is in a fair train, as I have had a 
letter from my correspondent there, within the present month. I shall 
take the first occasion that presents itself to address Mr. Pougens. 
again ; tho' 1 have no doubt that from your note, independent of the- 
confidence which he has already manifested in me that the order will 
be duly executed, even if he should not have thought it advisable to 
apply to Mr. Livingston. 

Our elections in Pennsylvania generally are as they ought to be;. 
Some unhappy misunderstandings have secretly existed which alarmed 
many and portended some injurious consequences. The evil has, how- 
ever, been in this county and the City completely checked ; tho at the 
expence of a good man's feelings. I mean Dr. Logan. No man 
esteems him more than I do, but he was the true instigator of the late 
divisions in the county, and I am afraid it may yet come to an 
unpleasant issue. I have kept his name out of View, but I had written 
evidence of his being the cause of the dissention ; the consequences if. 
not thwarted might have been fatal through the State. 

The jealousy among the principal republicans here requires a most 
vigilant attention. Unfortunately while I am endeavoring to check 
it, I am exciting the ill will of men whom I love, merely because I do 
not suffer myself to be led aside from a great public interest to the 
views of one or another individual. 

The following is an outline of our leading men's dispositions towards 
each other — and these five may be said to hold the principal weight. 

1. Mr. Dallas. Offended with 2, unreservedly opposed to 4, cold 
to 3 and 5. 

2. Dr. Logan. Violently hostile to 1 ; Do. 3 and 5 ; good under- 
standing with 4. 

3. Dr. Leib. Hostile to 2 ; familiar with 1 and 4 ; common cause 
with 5. 

4. Mr. Cox[e]. Estranged but willing to be friends with 1 ; friends 
with 2 ; familiar and friendly with 3 and 5. 

5. Mr. Muhlenberg. Friendly with all, but displeased with 2, and 
rather distant than familiar with 4. 

I am sorry to say that no actual cause o^ jealousy exists with founda- 
tion between them, but what is wholly political. Each of them in one 
way or another considers his neighbor a rival ! and the loss of any 
one of them would be to us a very serious evil. The Judiciary busi- 
ness had very nearly destroyed Mr. Dallas, the late Address has I 
think removed a great portion of the odium of that measure. Dr. 
Logan looks to the governmental chair at the next election ; but I fear 
his attacks upon Mr. Dallas and Dr. Leib, will shut him out from 
every hope of that kind. Indeed Nos. 1, 3 and 4 are the fully efficient 
men with us. Dr. Logan without the aid of the rest could do nothing; 



278 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

Mr. Muhlenberg by his strength of character and influence among the 
Germans possesses a great weight, and this Leib shares with him ; but 
Mr. Dallas and Mr. Coxe, who are the most capable men as writers, 
possess severally a great influence in the city and country. It were 
much to be wished they could be reconciled, for obvious reasons. The 
next two years will require all our strength of talents and activity, and 
Mr. Burr I make no doubt is laboring to assail every man's passions 
who he may conceive of weight, or likely to go into the erection of a 
third party. 

From the rising young men we have not much to expect ; Mr. Dick- 
erson is the only one who is decidedly republican that displays talents. 
In the late County discussions he has been silent, knowing the interest 
which his friend Dr. Logan took in the affair. Young Mr. Sergeant, 
the Commissioner of Bankrupts, associates wholly with the opposition 
party and barely says he is a republican ; he possesses talents, but they 
are of no public use but in his law pursuits ; young Richard Bache 
( Benjamin's younger brother) possesses talents, but he is yet a student 
with Mr. Dallas ; there are about four other young men lawyers who 
do not display any capacity for public affairs. The Value of such men 
as Mr. Dallas and Mr. Coxe, and Mr. Dickerson is not to be lightly 
estimated, considering that all the lawyers at the bar here are men of 
much weight as members of society and property, and as they threaten 
to bring out unprecedented efforts against the next presidential election. 

Sitgreaves will not succeed in Montgomery. Conrad a stupid intrigu- 
ing mercenary of no sound political principle will be the member, to 
the exclusion of a man of worth and talents, Mr. Boileau. However, 
Conrad cannot do harm. 

I had written some time since a very long letter soliciting some 
hints to enable me to repel the monstrous calumnies of a wretch that 
deserves not to be named. ^ I was fearful of sending it directly, and 
delayed it until I gladly perceived the public resentment was roused 
against the Calumniator. Should there be any facts which may be 
used to throw the villainous aspersions into a still more odious light, 
I should wish to have them. I however propose about the close of this 
month to go to "Washington City to look after my business there, as I 
find my clerk has been ill and the office wholly unemployed. 

The adverse party here now say they mean to give up further con- 
test, and to look on until they find us so effectually divided as to be 
enabled to step in and decide by joining the party which will enter into 
their views. This was expressed by Jacob Shoemaker, an influential 
Quaker in Philadelphia, who acted as one of the Inspectors of the 
Election. I am, etc. 

1 James Thomson Callender, who was now writing against Jefferson. 



1906.J LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 279 



To Jefferson} 

Pennsylvania Avexue, [Washington] Friday evening. 
27 November, 1802 

Sir, — My absence from home until this moment prevented my send- 
ing an answer to your note before. 

Young Cooper's name is Thomas Cooper — he appears to be about 
22 years old. 

Lacretelle's book I have not here but have written for it by mail to 
Philadelphia, and requested it to be sent by some private hand. 

Paine's third letter gives me considerable uneasiness, he has in fact 
commenced the subject of the Age of Reason in it. I have tried every 
effort of which I am capable to persuade him against it, but nothing 
will operate on him. I have fairly told him that he will be deserted by 
the only party that respects or does not hate him, that all his political 
writings will be rendered useless, and even his fame destroyed ; but he 
silenced me at once by telling me that Dr. Rush at the period when 
he commenced Common Sense told him, that there were two words 
which he should avoid by every means as necessary to his own safety 
and that of the public, — Independence and Republicanism. 
With respect, yours faithfully 

To Madison. 

Philadelphia, Aug. Z'^, 1803 

Sir, — In consequence of a conversation with a member of Congress 
who lately left Washington, I am induced to take the liberty of ad- 
dressing you, to request, (if you judge it proper) a copy of Lord Hawkes- 
bury's answer to Mr. King's note concerning Louisiana. I feel very often 
the extreme want of some leading information, upon which I could rely 
in rebutting the incessant attacks of the papers adverse to the Govern- 
ment; I believe this inconvenience to be very generally felt among the 
republican prints. If any mode could be adopted by which some of the 
papers, to which the public look for correct information and vigorous 
discussion, could be made acquainted occasionally with such facts as 
may not be improper to be known, the effect on the public mind I am 
persuaded would be beneficial, and the mortification and uncertainty in 
which Editors who are attached to the principles of the Government 
and its administration would be rendered less painful. I know that so 
far as it concerns myself, I feel my situation much more irksome and 
discouraging as an Editor than when my life was in hourly danger and 
my only source of information was from the blunders or the audacity of 
those who were in power. 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



280 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

I hope, Sir, you will excuse this liberty on account of the motive. 
I am, with great respect Sir, 

Your obedt Ser'. 
W^^ DuANE, Editor of Aurora. 



Circular Letter to U. S. Senators. 

Washington Citt, October 14th, 1803. 

Sir, — I take the liberty of soliciting your countenance and good 
offices, in favor of my application for the printing of the Journals of 
the honorable Senate. Three years since, upon the invitation and per- 
suasion of distinguished republicans, I established here a printing office 
adequate to the execution of any quantity or any kind of printing, and 
have executed a part of the work for Congress, to general satisfaction. 
Circumstances did not admit of the fulfilment of the purposes of my 
friends, with regard to the printing for the Senate, and the Journals 
have been hitherto printed by a person of adverse politics, with whom 
however, I did not think it delicate to be a competitor before this 
period. 

The distribution of this business is in the hands of the Secretary of 
the Senate, under some control from the Vice President. 
I am, Sir, your obedient Servant. 

To Madison. 

W" Duane's respects to M"" Maddison — Sends a paper in which there 
is an article, that it may be proper he should see — the same information 
is stated in other papers of N York of not so hostile a character as the 
N York Gazette. 

W™ D. would have waited on M' Maddison before now, but was 
desirous not to intrude while there was likely to be any interruption 
of other company and on the Subject of Spanish affairs he refrained 
rather from saying any thing than endanger any erroneous or premature 
discussion. 

Aug. 10, 1805. 

To Madison. 

Aug. 27, 1805 
With W"^ Duane's respects to M' Maddison 

Francis Prueil, a French merchant connected with the Spanish Am- 
bassador in many transactions, has recently applied to a tinman in this 
city to make a lantern such as is used in the Service of Artillery by 
night ; one was made, and it is understood (hat a large number more 



190C).] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 281 

are to be made. The Tinman suspecting that they might be intended 
for some purpose hostile to the U. S. has hesitated whether he ought to 
execute them — and would not if there were to be any reason to con- 
firm his suspicions ; he advised with me, and I have told him he ought 
to go on, so that their direction may be the more easily detected or 
traced. As it is impossible for me to determine what opinion ought to 
be informed on this subject, I thought it best to apprize you of it, and 
should any steps be necessary to be made on the subject, I am sure the 
man would aid. I have not however intimated to any one that I have 
taken this step — as after all it may be of no moment. 

3Iadlson to Duane. 

J. M. pres" his respects to M'' D. & in answer to his note of yester- 
day evening, observes that he is not acquainted with any circumstances 
denoting that the Artillery Lanterns on which the Tinman is employed, 
may have a hostile reference to the U. States, or justifying an interposi- 
tion in any form ag^' the prosecution of the Job. Should the suspicions 
entertained by the Tinman have any real foundation the course which 
occurred to M' D. seems favorable to the requisite discoveries. 

Philad*. Aug. 28. 

To Jefferson,} 

Philadelphia, March 12, 1806 
Respected Sir, — For a considerable time reports very injurious to 
the public interest have been in circulation, in this city and in diflerent 
parts of the State. The sentiments of the people have on no occasion 
been so strongly mark[ed] by sullen discontent, and public confidence 
has been very much shaken, by the reports in question. The peculiar 
situation in which I am placed is far from being grateful or desirable ; 
the correspondence which I had been accustomed to maintain at the 
seat of government being interrupted by my pecuniary affairs and the 
necessity of attending on courts of law here ; and none of the members 
of this district nor of the State, have condescended to communicate by 
a single line during the present session. Destitute of any other chart 
or land marks than those of common sense and my reliance on the 
purity of your views, I have continued unmoved by rumour or by even 
more authoritative inducements in my confidence and love of you. 

I should not have addressed you on this occasion, did not the reports 
in circulation appear to me as working effects the most pernicious to 
the public interest and to your reputation particularly. Painful as it 
is, it is fit nevertheless that you should not be ignorant of what is of 

1 Jeff. MSS. 
36 



282 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

so much concern, and men in elevated situations are more frequently 
deceived and flattered than correctly and candidly informed. As srlf- 
interest has no share in this step, I persuade myself it will not be offen- 
sive ; the reports already operate very unpleasantly on those who have 
been active in the political transactions of the last ten years particuUirly. 

It is said here — that you have thrown yourself into the arms of a 
Isew England party, and given them your exclusive confidence ; tbat 
the sturdy and independent republicans of the South are treated by you 
with coldness, and reserve. 

It is said in corroboration — that Mr. J. Randolph has openly at- 
tacked your administration, and censured the measures proposed by the 
administration to Congress. 

In other quarters it is alleged — that there is only one member of 
your Cabinet (Mr. Madison) who is not opposed to you — that the 
Secretar}' of the Navy in concert with his brother traverses all your 
measures concerning naval and commercial affairs. That the Secy, of 
the Treasury conducts his department in such a way as to evince a dis- 
approbation of your policy ; and the first report of his on the finances 
and the proposition for paying off the debt, while your message indi- 
cated vigorous measures of defence, is represented as a satire on your 
message : that the Secretary at War, secretly governed by the Post- 
master General, acts equally adverse, tho' under different views and 
professions : that all these differing in particular views from each other, 
yet cooperate upon some general principles which obstruct your best 
measures, and tliat between all these inferior combinations the execu- 
tive measures are frustrated and public confidence palsied. 

Another report says that you have broken with the Secy, of the 
Treasury, and that he is not consulted by you and that he proposes to 
resign. 

Another report has been stated from a very influential source — 
that the business of the Executive is conducted like the Cabinet of St. 
James — a concealed influence and an ostensible Cabinet — that there 
is a public profession and a concealed counteraction of that profession. 

From another quarter, and I saw it in writing, addressed to a gentle- 
man in this city, and it is gone abroad, it is alleged in strong and posi- 
tive terms, that you have unreservedly denounced the republicans who 
are deemed the most ardent, by the injurious epithet of Jacobins ; that 
you have made a declaration similar to that of Govr. McKean that you 
would in future appoint to ofhce none but the moderate men of both 
parties ; that in a word you had avowed an unqualified preference and 
predilection of those who are called third party men or Quids. 

It is now in active circulation here and has been for some days, that 
the expedition of Miranda, was previously known to and countenanced 
by you and by Mr. Madison ; this was circulated upon authority which 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 283 

was represented as official, and declared to have been so avowed by an 
officer of the government. This story excited such a ferment at the 
Coffeehouse, that I considered as a duty to trace it to its source. I 
traced it to Mr. Joseph Priestly of Northumberland, who narrated it 
to Mr, Ab. Small bookseller, as coming from Mr. Dallas, who Mr. 
Priestly said believed it, and who he declared had said that republican- 
ism was at an end, and that IMr. Jeffi^rsou and Mr. Madison would be 
both impeached. Mr, Small and myself discredited the story, but Mr. 
Edwd Fox related it also as coming from Mr. Dallas. The story was 
told in a manner to excite attention and to shape incredulity. It was 
alleged, that Miranda had brought a letter from an English under Secy 
of State to Mr. Rufus King, and that Miranda was to engage ships in 
the U. S. who were to cooperate with Sir Howe Popham against South 
America ; that Mr. King communicated the whole to the Secy, of 
State — that Miranda was received and countenanced thereupon — that 
the prosecution at New York was only a cover, and that when Mr. 
Sandford was examining Mr, R. King, that Mr. Sandford put the word 
unauthorized by Government — instead of authorized in Mr. King's 
evidence, and that Mr. K. detected it, and that Sandford burnt the 
evidence in consequence. The effect of such a report may be easily 
conceived, but the concern which it excited among those who love you 
and had not strength of mind to resist it is not to be described. 

I have taken upon me in every instance, (relying for my belief upon 
my opinion of your wisdom and goodness of heart,) to contradict all 
these rumours and to dissipate them in every manner as far as I was 
able. Circumstanced as I am, my situation as a politician and a citizen 
has been extremely irksome, and it occurred to me that the only service 
I could do you would be to make you acquainted with rumours which 
produced consequences nearly as pernicious as if they had any founda- 
tion. The interest of America, the stability of Republican Government, 
and the glory of your own life, appear to me to depend upon the dis- 
sipation of doubts and the course which you will pursue in your admin- 
istration henceforward. The uncertainty which has prevailed during 
the Session of Congress, has the common tendency in such occasions, 
to be transferred from the divisible mass to the individual head of the 
government, and the enemies of liberty and false friends find an interest 
in propelling human passion in that path. 

I have now done what I conceive to be a duty, arising from the venera- 
tion and love I feel for you, and under convictions that no sentiment [or] 
motive [of] an interested nature either actuate or can be charged upon 
me on this or on any other political occation; and with an assurance that 
if it were a case of peril or hazard, that I should come forward on your 
behalf with more alacrity than I do in the present instance. It is not my 
object to communicate this, nor have I consulted any human being on the 



284 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

subject — and I neither claim any credit nor apprehend any censure 
from you for the act ; because if I have mistaken the line of propriety, 
I am assured of an excuse in your liberality ; and the intention will be 
considered in place of the act. 

I require no answer, because the satisfaction of knowing that you are 
not offended I shall obtain on my going to the seat of Government 
after the courts here close ; and if I have offended I shall know it too 
soon at any time. If haply I have done right, and that any communi- 
cation from an observing and faithful friend should be agreeable in 
future I would not hesitate; for I very much fear that there has been 
too much treachery and deception practiced towards you by persons in 
this quarter. If such communication should not be acceptable, the cir- 
cumstance can make no alteration in my principles, for I shall be under 
all circumstances your affectionate and faithful friend. 

To Jefferson} 

Philadelphia, Novr. 2d, 1806. 

Respected Sir, — Sometime since during your sojournment at 
Monticello, I forwarded you tlie loose sheets of a pamphlet in the 
Spanish language, which I had printed secretly. The accompanying, 
affidavit will explain how I came to print it, under what impressions, 
and for whom. As I am not competent to translate Spanish, and the 
conduct of the Spanish ambassador here had been so disreputable to his 
mission, I conceived it to be my duty to forward you that pamphlet, in 
order that if it should contain any matter that might serve the govern- 
ment of my country it should be possessed thereof. Indeed the ac- 
companying affidavit expresses my sentiments and rule of action so 
explicitly that with the knowledge you already possess of me, my 
motives and conduct will require no explanation ; further than to ac- 
count for the affidavit of which I send a copy. 

It appears from the representation of Mr. Magdalena to me, that 
Yrujo has sent charges to Spain against him — Magdalena, aud among 
other things he has alleged that I had published in my paper certain 
facts which being known to no other person in this country but himself 
(Yrujo) aud Magdalena, those facts must have been communicated to 
me by the latter. Upon this charge Yrujo has undertaken to suspend 
the functions of Magdalena, wlio applied to me to declare the truth 
whether or not I have ever had any information from him. The 
affidavit is accordingly drawn up and Magdalena, desirous to give weight 
as much as possible to the evidence wliich he brings to exculpate him- 
self from Yrujo's accusation, has prescribed the mode of introduction 
which you will see in the affidavit, as to my commission in the militia 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



1906.] LETTEES OF WILLIAM DUANE. 285 

aud my religious education ; as I do not set any value on the titles and 
as my education has not closed up my understanding, I could not re- 
fuse to render him a service by an acquiescence in the use of facts that 
are true. This explanation of the introductory form I deem due to 
myself, lest it should be presumed, that I was so lost to good sense as 
to be vain or superstitious. 

I am at a loss to discover what the facts are which Yrujo complained 
of as divulged to me. Accustomed to speculate in political affairs 
below the mere surface, it appears that I must have penetrated the 
Spanish mysteries of State. Your eminent situation may perhaps enable 
you to judge what the secret really is ; for tho' it seems I discovered it, 
it remains a secret to me to this moment ; for I have attempted to 
anticipate so many things that unless it is the suggestion of a secret 
understanding between Spain & Great Britain, I cannot recollect any 
fact of sufficient moment to excite so much anger and apprehension. 

I have endeavored in the affidavit to say as much in corroboration 
of the general sentiment of the country against Yrujo as my knowledge 
and truth justifies. 

Magdalena means to send my original affidavit and that of my son to 
Spain ; he says Yrujo has sent orders to all the agents of Spain in the 
United States not to forward any despatches for him to Spain; he told 
me he placed so much confidence in your private virtues and generosity 
that he would request to have it transmitted to some of the American 
Consuls in Spain. 

I printed six copies of the Spanish pamphlet with the purpose that 
if it should prove useful to the government to place a copy in the hands 
of our ambassadors or Consuls in Spain or France that they might be 
had — if they can be of any such use, they shall be forwarded. 

On political transactions of a domestic nature I do not mean to tres- 
pass on you. My opinions and sentiments on particular men and circun> 
stances I know cannot be agreeable to you, tho' from my soul I believe 
that in so doing I am acting more faithful to my attachment to you, 
than if I forbore from scotching the snakes that trouble your path. I 
have no favor to ask, nor motive for uttering my sentiments of any 
public men, but public motives ; and if I should be mistaken, in any 
particular, the mistake will be my own, for I am neither to be led nor 
driven from the path of principle. 

There is a pamphlet in the press of S. F. Bradford in this city. It 
is an attack on your administration ; the proofs are sent to Jersey for 
revisal, and I suspect go farther on. It is proper to be apprised of this, 
because it seems to be intended to make an impression on the open- 
ing of Congress. If furnished with suitable material I would at once 
reply to it, and shall endeavor to procure one of the first copies to 
send you. 



2S6 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [Mat. 

Excuse Reipecteil Sir. this among the many trespasses I have made 
on vou — the motive if estimated as I feel will fuliv gratiiv me. With 
respect 

Permit me to ask the retom of the affidavits &c., as I have no other 
copv and it may be proper to be possessed of a copy lest Trajo on his 
return to Spain should misrepresent and send the misrepresentation 
here. I do not require Mij other answer, as your time must be amply 
engaged. 

To Jefffiton.^ 

Philadelphia, Norr. 4tli, 1806 

Sir, — The rumors in circulation here, concerning disturbances in 
Kentucky have excited a very strong sensation. It will be of some 
importance by some means to settle the public feeling on the subject. 
The whole country will be with you if there is any actual exigency. 
If there is not the administration may derive great advantage from a 
seasonable counteraction of the alarm. 

Judging it not impossible that there may be some disturbance, should 
my services in any situation for which my habits and cast of mind may 
fit me. be required. I make a respectful tender of them to you. I seek 
no office of emolument, all I wish is to be placed in such a situation as 
that I may be able to render public effective service. I am. >Sco. 

To Jeffersori^ 

Philadelphia, November 16, 1806. 

Respected Sib. — The enclosed is a literal copy of a communica- 
tion made to me. The author I do not know, but the subject appears 
to me of too much importance not to be put in your f>ossess;oii, as I 
conceive my duty to my country cannot justify me in withholding from 
the Magistrate whose duty and evident wishes are to preserve its 
honor, peace and prosperity. I do not wish for any answer. I only 
send it as I have expressed it. from a sense of duty — and shall do so 
should any further communication be made as is promised. 

With the utmost respect, &c. 

to Ihiant* 



(Literal Copv.) Michigas tessitost. 16 Oct! 1S06l 

Mr. Duaxe, — The following broken hints are oozimunicated, not 
to be published by any means, nor even shewn to any person, but 
merely to possess you of J'aeis transpiring in a certain part of the 

1 Jeff. MSS. - Jeff. MSS. 

' This paper is in Doane's writing. 



1906.] LETTERS OF ^^iVILLIAM DUANE. 287 

western world, that you may compare them with other things which 
may come in your way ; and should you allude to them, or any part of 
them, it must he done intirely in your own ivay and language. More 
will be furnished as things proceed. The writer would have no objec- 
tion to giving you his name, if the risk of transportation were not so 
great. 

In June, 1805, Goi< Hull came first to Michigan territory. "Wm. 
KeEtletas of N York was in company, who met him at Fort Erie, a 
British post opposite ButTalo creek. K. proceeded to Michilimackinac, 
and from thence to St. Louis, and became an inmate of Gen! Wilkin- 
son's family, by whom, it is said, he was appointed Att?' Gen! of Louis- 
iana, and is expected to return to that territory the present season. 

Judge Woodicard (at present senior judge of Michigan) came up 
thro' the State of Ohio. This man is a perfect Quid in politics, laughs 
at patriots and patriotism ; wishes never to see a.uo\\\ev political news- 
paper, was converted soon after his arrival, to the Roman Catholic or 
Canadian religion, and withal appears ambitious beyond measure ; and 
if a judgment may be formed from several things which have been 
transacted by him, is ready to stick at nothing to accomplish his 
views. Governor H. has been unfortunate in the Yazoo business, and 
generally supposed to be ruined, unless some new enterprise can save 
him. 

MattheiD Ernest met the governor on the British Shore, upon his 
arrival, took him to his house, and became a most intimate, almost 
indispensable companion. This Ernest is brother-in-law of Gen! 
Wilkius of Pittsburg, and came to Detroit as commissary, and was a 
close friend of Gen! Wilkinson. Tho' he first failed in the Commissary 
line, yet under Wilkinson his house became wonderfully replenished 
with plate and rich furniture, and he lived in the highest stile. He 
was appointed also collector of the Customs at Detroit, from which he 
was removed in 1805, for some mal conduct in respect to the revenue. 
[Mr. Duncan was collector of Michilimackinac, not Detroit.] Ernest 
mysteriously departed for Kentucky about ten weeks after the Gover- 
nor's arrival, leaving his family at Detroit, and carried with him about 
$8,000 of the public money remaining in his hands as collector ; for 
which suits are now going on against his estate and sureties. Previous 
to his departure he was made by the Governor treasurer of the terri- 
tory, and Colonel in the Militia. Other principal military offices have 
been given to known monarchists, and friends of Britain, to the no 
small chagrin of some republicans of merit. From the period that 
Col. Ernest left the territory, till the present, not a syllable has been 
publicly known here concerning him, which is now more than a year. 
Not a letter has arrived by mail, superscribed in his handwriting, tho' 
several in that of others addressed to him and family. He v/ent from 



288 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

Kentucky to N. York, about the time Mira7ida fitted out there, and is 
generally thought to have been embarked with him. It is by some 
imagined that Mr. Duncan has done the same, who carried away 
30, 000 $ or more of the public money. 

Colonel Smith, of N. York (the same concerned in fitting out 
Miranda) pretends to possess a claim to an immense tract of land in 
Michigan territory. Gov! H. was applied to by the said Smith to 
become a sharer in the same ; but it is not known whether he did or 
not. 

A law was passed by the Govf and judge W. to enable Aliens to 
acquire, hold and transfer real estate in the territory of Michigan, as 
freely and on the same principles as a citizen of the U. States. Judge 
Bates (the only associate judge present at the time) entered a protest 
against this law. 

It has been and is freely advanced by some men in Michigan, (of no 
small consequence, and among them some of the garrison) that the 
American territory is too large for a single government, that the 
interest of the widely extended parts cannot be properly regulated by 
one body of men^ &c. 

The closest intimacy has been cultivated on the part of the Governor 
and the officers of the American garrison, with the British officers and 
leading men on the Canadian shore : splendid feasts, balls and visita- 
tions have been very frequently exchanged. Aid has been lent from the 
American garrison to assist British officers in hunting their deserters on 
the American territory, and committing violence and outrage on the 
citizens. And when those officers have been arraigned as ofi'euders 
before our highest court, they have been permitted to wear their swords 
in the court, and have lived in the utmost splendor in our garrison, and 
at the Governor's table, while prisoners for the most outrageous 
breaches of the peace. A preference is given by the Govf to the 
counsels of the British commander respecting the Indians in our neigh- 
bourhood and territory, their instructions, designs, &c., above the 
counsels of the most experienced American citizens. 

An unaccountable assurance amounting to the total exclusion oj 
doubt is possessed by the Governor and Judge W[oodward] that the 
Indians will never again molest the frontier settlements, not even in 
case of a war between America and England. They have answered 
to those who have disbelieved tins, that such inhuman policy will be 
henceforth discarded by Great Britain ! The Governor's proceedings 
in respect to the Militia of the territory, and in stile with these assur- 
ances ; for he is training and uniforming them apparently more for 
fighting regular enemies than Indians, more for the field than the bush. 
The proper defensive works against Indians he appears to think very 
lightly of, and holds them unnecessary. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 289 

la Oct^ 1805 the Gov! and judge W[oodward] departed together for 
the States. Both at that time said it was uncertain whether they should 
return to Michigan any more. They went via N. York to Washington 
and were there at the session of Congress. I believe immediately after 
the question on the Yazoo claims was decided, the former left Wash- 
ington for Boston. The latter still remained at Washington where he 
continued some time after Congress rose. At Boston a number of men 
(supposed to be Yazoo claimants) suddenly formed themselves into a 
hnnking company for the purpose of establishing a bank at Detroit. 
They filled up most of the shares, leaving a few only to be taken in Michi- 
gan territory. In June last the Govfcame from Boston to Detroit, bring- 
ing with him some brass field pieces, and a quantity of arms, cutlasses, 
pistols, &c., with orders to draw muskets from the public arsenal, all 
for the use of the militia. He also brought materials for building, and 
Soon set about erecting a house, or rather palace, which is now pro- 
gressing and will cost from 10 to 15,000 $. A profound silence reigns 
relative to the defeat of the Yazoo claims. Those claims at his departure 
last fall were a topic of conversation. In July, the Cashier of the pro- 
posed Bank came on from Boston, with his family, bringing part of the 
specie, with irons, &c., ready made to proceed upon the building of a 
banking house. He soon proceeded to erect an expensive building be- 
fore any law had passed to establish the bank, or even a legislative 
board were present, for Judge W[oodward] had not yet arrived, and 
Judge Griffin had never been in the territory. All went on in the 
strongest manner without any question either of permission or of success. 
In August two or three other principal owners of shares came on from 
Boston (among them one Nathaniel Parker) bringing still more specie. 
In company with these Judge Woodward arrived, having been absent 
almost eleven mouths. Several active young gentlemen also came, 
and are still coming, from that quarter, who are jjatronized by the 
Gov^ernor and fill every place of any profit in his gift. Some are yet 
without business. 

The first act of the legislative board, after Judge W[oodward] ar- 
rived, was to establish the bank by law. Not a little to the surprize 
of the citizens, the law admits a capital in specie of One Million of 
dollars, with liberty to extend branches wherever the directors please ! 
Such an immense deposit of cash in this western world appear to most 
people a paradox, which none can satisfactorily explain. The trade of 
this country is a barter of peltries for goods, and little cash is used. 
Some are bold enough to conjecture, that an object is in view threaten- 
ing to the Union of the States, especially as it is reported that other great 
jeposits of cash are making in various parts of the Western World. 

The citizens of Detroit are now in considerable commotion, caused 
by a very singular attempt as they think, to oust them from their 
I 37 



290 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

dwellings which they built on the public domain (by permission of the 
board) after the destruction of the town by fire last summer. You will 
probably see a more particular account of this business which it is 
thought will be made public. It is conceived by some, that their 
houses are or will be wanted by Yazoo men, of whom it is said large 
numbers will come in next year, under the characters of farmers. 
Those from Boston, now here, say donations of land must be given 
them, to encourage them to come. The Governor and Judge 
W[oodward] obtained 10,000 acres by an act of Congress last winter, 
which is to be at the disposal of the legislative board. It is to be ad- 
jacent to Detroit. Most of the farms in this territory are now under 
mortgage, and the mortgages will be lodged in the Bank for cash, by 
those who hold them. It is expected many of the old inhabitants will 
be obliged to quit leaving their homes and farms in the hands of the 
bankers. 

Govf Hull says that a Mr. Jackson a member of Congress from 
Virginia, a man of great talents and public virtue, is about removing into 
Michigan territory ; and that several other equally distinguished charac- 
ters are also expected to bend their course in the same direction. 

A Bill to amend an act entitled "an act to divide the Indiana terri- 
tory into two separate governments, and for other purposes," was 
introduced into Congress last winter, by a committee of which the 
above Mr. Jackson was chairman : it was framed by Judge W[oodward] 
and proposes a material change in the government of Michigan con- 
ferring despotic power in certain instances, and calculated to repress 
and root out the present Secretary of the territory Mr. Griswold, 
whose strict repuhlican principles and zeal for the preservation of the 
union of the Statrs, is not fitted for their views, while he is in a situation 
to know the proceedings carrit d on, in public and private ; there are a 
few others equally obnoxious, but we are not so much exposed to the 
angry feelings of the speculating body as he is, and are beside totally 
independent of their power unless it be abused. The above bill passed 
the House of Representatives, but was laid over in Senate till next 
Session. This Bill with some remarks thereon, will probably be sent 
you before the next meeting of Congress. 

A law passed Congress last session, which excites some observation, 
by which the public land offices are forbidden to receive any more evi- 
dence of the public debt for lands hereafter to be sold, and are required 
to receive cash only. Where there is much fraud going on and very 
alarming rumours abroad, men are apt to be suspicious ; and there is 
more safety in a jealous vigilance than a too confident security. It is 
not therefore surprizing that many should conceive that the design of tidi > 
measure (unknown and carefully concealed from Congress) is to assist 
the deposit of cash in the western world, against a great occasion. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 291 

A correspondence is going on between Judge W[oodward] (since his 
return) and some other unknown person or persons, at a distance, writ- 
ten in disguised letters, or using one letter for another^ and on paper 
curiously stamped and stained upon the edges — - but further discoveries 
on this subject are expected to be made. 

To Jefferson.^ 

Phil. Dec. 8, 1806 

Respected Sir, ■ — ^Had I not made the brief communication a few 
days since concerning Commodore Truxton's interview, I should not 
have deemed an anonymous article received through the Post office 
worthy of noting by letter, especially as it may be either well founded 
or malicious in its intention. I shall inclose the original note, and 
shall beg it to be returned as I may possibly trace the handwriting. 

Some circumstances that have come within my knowledge may tend 
perhaps to throw some light on other points. When Mr. Burr was in 
this city last year he lodged at Mr. Gardette's a Frenchman a dentist a 
very worthy man and I believe sincerely devoted to the happiness and 
interests of the United States. This person's son is a young man of 
talents, his education has a French cast, and he is an able draughtsman 
and musician ; this young man Mr. Burr took with him. The young 
man is now at home; but in the event of any evidence being required no 
doubt his would be important so far as he saw and drafted, for I do not 
suspect that he was ever apprised of Mr. Burr's designs. A brother of 
the elder Mr. Gardette arrived here about two years since from France ; 
he had been a ca-ptain in the French army, and had seen considerable 
service. He was bred a chintz pattern carver or engraver, and had made 
very considerable progress in arrangements for his business here ; suddenly 
a few months ago, perhaps about May or June, he discontinued that 
pursuit, and the first I heard of him was at Pittsburg, and his descend- 
ing the Ohio. The conneclion of the circumstances may possibly be 
accidental, but under the circumstances of the transactions in the West, 
little incidents of this nature may lead to more important developments. 
I do not know the name of this captain, or whether he uses the family 
name. 

Another incident has come within my knowledge. Two or three 
months ago, Mr. John Craig merchant in this city, applied to Messrs 
Binney and Ronaldson for types to a considerable amount, destined for 
Mexico, and calculated and cast for the Spanish language to the value of 
2,000 %. They understood that the person who ordered them was Mr. 
Fernandez (Note I have since seen the original Spanish order. The 
[name is not the same exactly, it is Fernando. The merchant here is 
John Craig, at Baltimore a merchant of the name of Oliver). The 

/ 1 Jeff. MSS. 



292 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

name I recollect to be the same as that of a gentleman of considerable 
intelligence and impressive manners who was in several parts of the 
U. S. not long ago. But it may not be the same person. The circum- 
stance which struck me as deserving of notice in the case was, that the 
types being sent to Mr. Craig's on Monday (the day your proclamation 
arrived here,) Craig denied that he ordered them, and said the order 
came from Baltimore ; the letter containing the order is in the hands of 
Binney & Ronaldson, and it is addressed on the cover to John Craig, 
Esq. They conclude that the types were intended for the conspirators. 

Commodore Truxton called today again but being somewhat unwell 
I did not see him. But I think it fit to notice some of the conversation 
which he held on the former day. He appears to entertain a deadly 
hatred of Gen. Smith & Mr. R. Smith, and meditates a voluminous 
critical discussion on the ^'mismanagement" of the naval department. 
As I was not at all reserved in my profession of respect or dislike of 
men, he entered very largely into his ''■wrongs^'' and attributed them 
wholly to the enmity of the above gentlemen, and to a mercantile dis- 
pute of a very remote date. He said that Mr. R. Smith had 
endeavored to impress Mr, Burr with an opinion that the '•'• treatment'''' 
of Com. Truxton was wholly the act of the President, and that he 
Smith lamented and deplored it. But Truxton stated that now he was 
rather disposed to think that Burr was endeavoring to work upon his 
resentments with a view to enlist him in his enterprises " against 
Mexico", — that he believes Burr in professing to serve him and to take 
an interest in his case was deceiving him, and that while he was calling 
the two Smiths by the most execrable names, he was stimulating them 
to persevere in their proscription of him (Truxton). That from the 
amicable manner you had at first received him, he was persuaded the 
hostility did not proceed from you; and that some artifices must have 
been employed to deceive you between that period and the second time 
he waited on you, when he said you received him with studied coldness. 
This explanation of his discourse, it is but fit should accompany the 
anonymous note ; as it may be very possibly the act of an enemy of 
Truxton, though it certainly merits a cautious pursuit and inquiry, 
from the obvious connection of the parties, Dayton and Burr. 

I shall just beg leave to suggest, that many of your warmest and 
most devoted friends here conceive that some notification to the several 
states concerning the militia, or the first measures for providing a con- 
tingent to be organized upon a further call, would not only greatly 
serve the public interest but produce many other salutary effects, in 
promoting a disposition in the country to maintain some appearance of 
a constitutional militia. Maryland and Delaware being without any ; 
and in fact in this state, the Governor encourages every measure that 
can tend to dispirit or to retard an efficient organization. The tax is 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 293 

excessive on those who belong to uniformed corps, and the command of 
a regiment stands the commander in 200 or 300 dollars a year expense 
so lax is the system. This, however, I submit with deference. 

Extracts from a second communication from Michigan 22 October. 

" A bank is established at this place under the auspices of certain 
gentlemen of Boston, among whom are Russell Sturges, Nathaniel 
Parker, two Basses, one Coverley, one Wheeler, &c., &c. Johii Jacob 
Astor, of New York, and some others of that city, and elsewhere on 
the Atlantic coast, are concerned. By the law formerly noticed 
establishing this bank, it admits of a specie capital of a million of 
dollars, and branches may be extended to any other place at the discre- 
tion of the concern. Only 20,000 $ are called in to begin with." 

Extracts from a third communication, 5 Novr. 

*' You will receive a Bill by the mail that takes tiiis fx'om Detroit. 
That Bill is now pending in S. U. S. accompanying which will be also 
sent a Remonstrance of the Grand Jury of this territory against certain 
provisions therein. Had the Bill no other bearing than those merely 
local to the territory and government it is probable that you would not 
be asked to publish them. But many of us here and of the best 
informed sedate men consider from some provisions which it contains 
that it is calculated to facilitate a great nefarious and traitorous design 
now hatching in the Western country. 

" Mr. Jackson of Virginia noticed in a former communication was 
the chairman of the committee that framed the Bill, and from what I 
learn since I wrote before he is a very different character from what 
I then conceived. Governor Hidl and Judge Woodward were at 
Wash", wheu the bill was brought forward. Woodward it is said drew 
it up. Before those gentlemen left the territory in 1805, not a syllable 
was suggested of any necessity or design to alter the government of the 
territory. The project was hatched probably at Washington, and 
Woodward is said to have been very strenuous to push it through last 
session, that the business might be completed before any hint of it 
should transpire here where we were to be most affected by it. It 
failed in the Senate after passing the other house, an unlucky stroke 
for the Judge, a fortunate one for the people here. The governor on 
his return in June brought the first copy and the first knowledge that 
existed of the Bill in this territory. It was shewn only to a select few 
until the Judge arrived in September. Soon after the Supreme Court 
held a session, and a grand jury of the most respectable citizens from 
every part of the territory were summoned to attend. Judge Wood- 
ward among other things committed this Bill to their consideration and 
said it wanted only the approbation of the Grand Jury to pass the 



294 MASSAC HCrSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

U. S. Senate, which Congress would consider as the sense of the 
territory. He recommended that if they were in its favor they should 
so report, if they disapproved a report was not necessary. He was 
careful however not to commit his charge to writing. The G. Jurors 
read the Bill with astonishment, and reported their candid sentiments 
to the court. At an adjourned session soon after they took it up again 
and a Remonstrance which will be sent you was the result of their 
unanimous deliberation and vote. 

" In the obnoxious provisions of the Bill beside private objects, the 
meditated aggrandizement of the Judge has excited much indignation ; 
there are two other objects that I shall particularly point out to you 
because they bear upon the nefarious and traitorous conspiracy before 
alluded to — at least in case such a design be in operation, of which 
none of the intelligent men here doubt. 

" Firsi. As the essential mark of despotism is manifestly borne on 
the provisions regarding the change of this territorial government, it 
appears to have been intended to try the republicanism and spirit of 
the people in this quarter, to see whether they possessed a substantial 
regard for principles or whether they might not be led passively to 
follow a despot and engage in any undertaking, however flagitious, 
desperate or destructive of their own freedom or the happiness of 
America; and finally to see how they might relish an imperial or 
royal government, should such an one be set up west of the mountains, 
or possibly the British government should it [be] thought necessary to 
give G. Britain a slice of this fur trade and peltry country (with its 
inhabitants) for assisting to dismember the union. 

" Second. I perceive that among its objects was the present secretary 
of the territory, a Mr. Griswold, and a direct attack on him by one of 
the prime movers strengthens this idea ; he has stood aloof from them 
with a cautious but not offensive reserve ; yet the distance he appears 
to keep is alarming to them, and his opportunities in his situation are 
such as to disconcert them very much, especially as the best and 
worthiest men here place confidence in him; and if the design of 
dismembering the union should unfold itself further, he might be a 
serious obstacle to their designs ; besides it is his duty to act as gover- 
nor under particular emergencies, and if there should be any miscon- 
duct in any officer towards the union however high we confide in his 
arresting him. A young man of the name of Watson from Boston 
arrived here soon after the Governor in June. He declared that he 
came to be Secretary of the territory, and that his business here was 
that and waited here for that alone. 

" Another curious fact. After Judge Woodward found what the 
grand jury had done with his Bill, and that they were about to transmit 
their remonstrance, he fell upon the expedient of summoning as Colonel 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 295 

of the first Regt. of militia, two delegates from each militia company, 
to meet him in convention, to take into consideration (as he expressed 
it in his circular) " the state of public affairs " ; it is supposed for the 
purpose of obtaining somebody to recommend his bill. The convention 
is to be held a few days hence, but he will effect nothing except morti- 
fication to himself. Indeed he has fairly out-intrigued himself in this 
territory, on the bench and in the legislative board where it is too true 
[he] is both ridiculous and odious. The Citizens at a large and respec- 
table meeting lately voted that he ought to be impeached and removed. 
How far they will proceed with this I know not, but a committee 
has been appointed to address Congress on the subject. 

" The Governor has shown a disposition to retract, so far as he has 
had concern in the intrigues and practices now so much condemned by 
the citizens ; which has to appearance created a breach between him 
and the judge. 

" If there be a design on foot to dismember the Union there are many 
of us here ready to resist and with means to expose and defeat it, with 
proper precautions. Knowing your fidelity and honor, I leave to you 
to make the proper use of the information I communicate, and what 
ought and what ought not to be published." 

Deer. 26, 1806 

Since the receipt of the above a debilitating rather than a serious 
indisposition prevented me from closing and forwarding the above. 
Another letter from the same quarter of the five Novr. encloses an 
extraordinary letter addressed to the Legislative Board by Judge 
Woodward. As it does not relate so much to general as to local 
affairs, and is a most extravagant and intemperate act for a man in 
such a station, I do not send a copy unless it should be of any use. 
The copy I have is authenticated by Peter Anderson, Secy, of the 
Govr and Judges. 

I took the liberty of suggesting in the preceding sheet the feelings 
and wishes of your warmest friends, and of the soundest principles, 
concerning the Militia ; the policy even were it only to keep the militia 
spirit awake and the people conscious of their own rights and importance, 
the declarations of men in the regular military service, too plainly in- 
dicate the danger from large military establishments ; men educated in a 
profession wish to exercise it — and thank God our country and policy 
are not such as is calculated to promote standing armies or war ; an 
organization of the state contingent would at least in this state produce 
the most salutary effects. That I do not look to anything personal 
(except trouble and expense) is obvious because as Colonel of the best 
regiment in the State, I am as high as I could go under the present 
reign, and should rather prefer to command my company than my 



296 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, [May, 

regiment if it were not for the political use that my submitting to the 
drudgery of acting as colonel and even as adjutant and sergeant major 
of the corps. The duty however gives me better ideas of matters which 
I find useful as an Editor. 

I could wish that the chief of the conspiracy could be seized, witli 
20 men whom I could select, and properly provided with each a good 
horse and close arms, I think I could bring him to Washington, and 
would cheerfully undertake it. 

As the tone I have maintained in the Aurora on the Non Importa- 
tion law and British affairs, may not be understood as I conceive and 
intend them, I think it incumbent on me to state the principles upon 
which I act. In the first place I am convinced in my soul that noth- 
ing is to be expected by the U. S. from G. Britain on the score of 
justice or right. That all must be the effect of her fears, her interests, 
or her dangers. 

This alone would be sufficient ; but the conduct of all the agents 
(particularly of Bo7id here) is so gross and indecorous, that the popular 
Scourge cannot be too severely laid upon him. The agents and emis- 
saries take their tone from these official men. And it is due to the 
country that their deceptions course independent of their virulence 
against the government, should be repelled. I feel some gratification 
in perceiving the effect produced by the incessant fire 1 have kept upon 
them during my recent indisposition. 

On the other hand a strong motive with me is to afford the govern- 
ment a countervailing argument against the complaints which the min- 
ister of France may make (knowing what his master made before 
against the Aurora) I disdain the idea of the tyrant, who has super- 
seded by his power the liberty of France ; but as he is upon equal terms 
with the combined powers, as a politician he must be judged on equal 
terms with them. Beside if tliere could be any danger from him, and 
there may be at least inconvenience and much evil use made of any 
complaint which he might make, I have conceived it to be my duty 
seeing that the Aurora has considerable repute, to take up the subject 
in such a way as shall without committing a single principle of national 
honor or right, give at least so much assurance as a single Gazette can 
give that the abuse of France and its chief is not the act either of the 
administration nor the sentiment of the 23eople. The same sentiment 
induced me to dwell on the Non Importation act, and to disapprove of 
its repeal or suspension — because it might be fairly pleaded that the 
paper was not under the influence of the administration. These ex- 
p'anations I hold to be due to you, and to myself. In any mode that 
I can serve my country I am at your service, because I am sure that 
you would not suspect me of being an hunter of office, but one who 
really feels the true glory of being a freeman and the duty which every 



1906.] LETTERS OF AVILLIAM DUANE. 297 

man owes to devote his faculties to the service of his country, and his 
life if the exigency calls for the sacrifice. This is my sentiment, and 
it is that in which I have educated my children. I am, &c. 

To Jefferson} • 

Respected Sir, — The following is a copy of an anonymous com- 
munication made to me, which has since produced a correspondence with 
the writer, and a disclosure of the Cypher, therein alluded to, a copy of 
which I also subjoin. 

[Copy] 

" I\Ir. DuANE, — In addition to the facts stated in your paper of this 
morning, you may add the following if you think proper. 

" That in the month of July last, a confidential friend of Colonel 
Burr, left with some persons (whom he thought his dupes) the Key in 
Cyphers to write him ; that the letters were directed to D'. Clarke, 
Esq'., at N. Orleans. 

" The aforesaid Key is in my possession, should you wish to see it, 
it shall be communicated confidentially, as well as the true and genuine 
plan of the Great Colonel which is the same in effect as was published 
by you this morning. 

" Yours truly, 

" A Democrat and Friend 

" 10th jany. [1807] " 

After certain notifications and some few private notes in reply con- 
taining no additional pul)lic matter, the Copy of the Key was left at my 
house, a copy of which I inclose on a separate paper. 

I have been informed from very creditable authority that Dr. Boll- 
man, is one of the agents of Mr. Burr at Orleans. 

Mr. Burr I am told had made application to a celebrated French 
Engineer, who lives (or lately lived) at Baltimore, he was formerly 
the Count La Marc, or Lemarque, and is known now by the name of 
Godefroy. 

I am also told that some young men from this city have started 
within a week, to join in the treason ; one of them is named Fries, son 
of the store-keeper corner of Market and Third, formerly the old gaol ; 
the names of the other young men I have not yet learned ; though they 
are all allowed to be federalists. 

On the paper annexed to the Key, I send copies of two letters that 
in my mind merit very serious attention. — The source from whence 
they are derived is unquestionable. 

1 Jeff. MSS. 
38 



298 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

Our State legislature exhibits a melancholy scene of governmental 
intrigue. — Indeed Mr. McKean has completely succeeded in destroy- 
ing poor Sam'. Bryan, who is now in this city with a numerous and 
young family, and I believe not 50 dollars in the world; his furniture 
is left to pay his rent at Lancaster ; and his wliole offence constancy 
and principle, integrity in discharge of his duty, and an invincible 
fidelity to the principles of the Revolution. 

Mr. Steele who was the Republican Candidate was thrown out by an 
intrigue of the most scandalous nature. He is under a prosecution at 
the suit of the Governor for 50,000 dollars damages ; for signing an 
address of the members of the Legislature, recommending S. Snyder 
as the Governmental Candidate. Deplorable to say the intrigues of 
the Governor's partisans succeeded in setting up the author of, the 
address, who was not prosecuted, against Mr. Steele, who only signed 
it : and it was to defeat this odious intrigue that Mr. Gregg owes his 
election. These are painful occurrences to men who devote their lives 
and indeed their peace and comfort to sustain the cause of liberty & 
virtue; they are afflicting & discouraging; to see men whom we 
deemed virtuous only a few weeks ago, by their avarice of office put- 
ting the whole interests of a state at hazard, and endangering the 
cause of republicanism by destroying confidence among brethren and 
exciting the Exultation of the wily and unprincipled adversary parties. 

I trust you will excuse my freedom in thus writing to you, in the 
present troublous times; but as the countenance you have occasionally 
given to the faithful men of the state has considerably sustained good 
principles, so people here still look to you to counteract when occasion 
honorably offers, the fatal effects of the existing administration of the 
State. I do not write for any answer, nor wish to trouble you with 
writing one. It will be sufficiently grateful to me, if I contribute by 
my efforts any useful service, or afford you a satisfactory evidence of a 
very warm and sincere heart. 

Yours faithfully. 



To Madison. 

Philadelphia, May 1, 1807 

Sir, — I am induced to apply to you on the present occasion by an 
incidental hint which fell in conversation from a very intelligent gentle- 
man in this city, who enquiring the progress of my edition of D'' 
Franklin's works, suggested that I ought to make application for liberty 
to copy such articles as might be deemed of value of D'' Franklin's 
political productions while he was abroad, and that there were such in 
the Department of State. As I had not before conceived that idea, 



190G.] LETTERS OF AYILLIAM DUANE. 299 

and as I cannot now say whether it is well founded or not, I have 
thought it proper to intimate a wish to you, in this respectful form, to 
be permitted to transcribe any papers of D'' Franklin's that may be so 
deposited, and which it may not be improper to publish. I should 
have made this application long since, had I not expected to have been 
in Washington long before ; nor shall I expect any answer at present, 
as I propose waiting on you personally for the purpose, on my way to 
Richmond about the 20th of the present month. I have not thought it 
proper to trouble the President on the subject, concluding that you 
would if necessary consult him. 

I see by the papers that Capt. M Gregor's commission as consul at 
S' Croix had not been received some time ago — I forwarded it to M"" 
Prom a Danish Merchant at S' Croix, who is the husband [of] my 
wife's sister, and make no doubt of its safe delivery — I thought it 
proper to mention this lest it should be supposed I had omitted to 
send it. 

I am Sir With respect Your obed' Ser' 

W" DuANE 

To Jefferson} 

Wednesday mokning, July 1, 1807 

Respected Sir, — T left late last night in the hands of your servant 
two letters from Richmond entrusted to me to be delivered to you, the 
lateness of the hour deprived me of the pleasure of delivering them in 
person ; and as I have no business that would justify my occupying 
your time, I have preferred dropping this note for you, with a tender 
of my services in any situation which my humble talents may appear 
to you useful in the present crisis of affairs, when zeal, fidelity and 
intelligence may perhaps be required. The sense of the country on 
the recent outrage, is such as your most earnest wishes could look for 
under such circumstances, and I am persuaded that the more prompt, 
decisive and marked by resolution and confidence in the people, the 
more will your honor and the safety of the country be promoted and 
secured. The Whigs of your native State are as full of zeal as in any 
period of the Revolution. The town meeting at Richmond was by 
much the most respectable I have seen on any such occasion, and their 
spirit was happily contrasted by the puny efforts of Mr. Fenton Mercer 
and young Gamble, to take away from the energy of the proceedings 
there ; these two young men and the son of Chief Justice Marshall 
formed the whole of the minority. 

A letter from my son of the 26th ult. met me here, and contains the 
following remarkable paragraph. 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



300 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

" There is a correspondence now going on between Jonathan Dayton 
and John Marshall, Chief Justice — and between Jonathan Dayton and 
Yrujo — Dayton tries to feign a handwriting different from his own, 
but without effect. This may be relied on." 

Mr. John Morgan formerly Adjutant General in Jersey, but now of 
"Washington, Penna, arrived in this city in the same stage with me, the 
evidence of that gentleman, his father and brother is spoken of as very 
honorable to them and important to the public. 

It was said when I left Richmond that Mr. Burr had been tamper- 
ing with the guard over him ; Major Scott in my hearing directed an 
additional sentinel. 

Genl. Wilkinson told me he would leave Richmond on Wednesday, 
(this day) for Washington. 

Mr. Graham whom I met at Dumfries desired me to present his 
respects, he meant to come on with Wilkinson. 

Any commands you may have for me of any kind it will afford me 
particular satisfaction to attend to. I am, &c. 

To Jefferson} 

Phila. July 8, 1807 

Respected Sir, — Whatever may be the ultimate issue of the 
violence already committed by the British, I respectfully submit if 
it would not be expedient to make immediate arrangements for the 
establishment of Telegraphs such as would render the communication 
between the extremes of the iinion and the principal points on the sea- 
board, and the seat of government prompt and clear. 

The expense of such an establishment would be found on inquiry 
not very great, and the machinery might be constructed upon principles 
so simple as to convey any species of Information with accuracy. The 
advantages of such an establishment in the event of offensive operations 
on different points of our coasts, I need not point out to you. Permit 
me to suggest that the most simple would be the system of numerical 
signs, which might be so contrived as to refer to a numbered vocabu- 
lary or Dictionary prepared for the purpose. The names of jjlaces 
persons and things not usually found in Dictionaries might be added in 
the key book. Or an ordinary pocket Dictionary might be first pre- 
pared by scoring out such words as were not essential for the purpose 
and numbering the words in progression. From such a system all the 
advantages of publicity or secrecy might be preserved at discretion, 
either by placing the key only at the point of intelligence and in the 
possession of such persons as were in the confidence of Govert. This 
idea was suggested to me by the famous cypher of Burr. 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



190G.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 301 

Will you with your usual goodness permit me to offer a few sugges- 
tions, which, tho' I make no doubt some of them may be already more 
completely conceived and unfolded by other and abler hands, will not 
I hope be inexcusable from me, for their intention is good. 

If the British persist in making war on us it will be perhaps prin- 
cipally by commercial depredation, secondly by their old system of 
conflagration and outrage on the seaboard, and thirdly by carrying into 
effect those designs which were conceived and prepared to be carried 
into execution when the sudden conchision of the peace of Amiens stopt 
the enterprise, but out of which have since arisen the Expeditions of 
Miranda and Burr. 

I believe it is well understood tliat the two armaments which were 
cotemporaneous with the French Louisiana expedition formed in the 
ports of Holland were intended for South America and Florida. It is 
very probable that the project against the latter was intended to be 
affected had Burr succeeded at N. Orleans. In the event of their 
determination upon a war Florida will certainly become an object to 
them both of political advantage in relation to the W. Indies and of 
annoyance to U. S. Under the plausible appearance of only attacking 
Spain, they may expect to quiet their adherents in the U. States ; and 
the little difficulty which they would find in occupying St. Augustine or 
Pensacola would afford to the disaffected adherents of Burr in that 
quarter a temptation too flattering for men disgraced and dishonored 
as they must be not to procure for the British many adherents. It is 
a certain fact that Elizabeth the daughter of the President of Princeton 
College, did not very long ago declare at New Orleans, in words to 
this effect, to a gentleman in a company where several were present — 
" Damn ye !- you have destroyed Burr, but not the principle, and you 
toill suffer in less than two years for your present conduct : damn ye ! 
fifty of you should have been assassinated ! " " Who minds what a 
woman says ! " replied the gentleman. " Yet I wonder your husband 
don't teach you more discretion." 

The Princeton Amazon replied. " If they durst speak you would 
have harder things from them." 

My second son who I sent by Pittsburg in the track of these gentry and 
returned here on Friday in the Spanish Lady, says that much disaffec- 
tion prevails there still. Some of the intrenchments established by 
Wilkinson are leveled. And many speak of the future realization of 
what has miscarried by vigilance of government and the attachment 
of the people. Circumstances such as the conversation of this warlike 
^lady cannot arise from shallow sources ; the terms indicate much more 
'than the sentiment reveals. The occupation of Florida would in a 
great measure lead to the loss of Louisiana, at least to render its settle- 
ment more remote and precarious ; further reflections I need not offer, 



302 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOEICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

because if my premises are at all plausible or likely to be matters of 
action, the results are easily foreseen. Under any circumstances of war, 
whether Florida should be attempted or not, attacks real or feigned 
would be made on various parts of the coast ; the eastern coasts would 
be attempted if Florida was the object, and the Hudson, Delaware 
and Chesapeake would be alarmed to direct attention from Florida. 
These reasonings are founded on the reality of an intended and active 
war. Permit me to continue the train of my thoughts on the subject. 

Experience shows that offensive operations conducted with vigor and 
spirit are more effective than measures merely defensive. The spirit 
and enterprise of the American character are peculiarly fitted for offen- 
sive enterprises. To guard ourselves the best principle of defence would 
be prompt and multiplied enterprises against them. All their points 
are vulnerable. The employment of any force we should chuse against 
them out of our own territory would not weaken us. Two or three 
bold enterprises might add to our resources, and even an expedition 
that should but be partially executed against them, would be fatal in 
its measure according to the nature of the position attacked. Their 
commerce, their credit, the popularity of their governmental agents 
would all be shaken, and their being forced to act on the defensive 
would be to us preservation. 

There are four points at which the British might be attacked with 
peculiar advantage to us and disadvantage to them. And the attack 
of some of them would be essentially a part of our defensive system. 
Canada would be necessarily attacked to protect us from the British 
emissaries and the resources of war supplied by them to the Indian 
tribes. The capture of Halifax would be essential to deprive their 
fleet of a harbor. Expeditions thither could not be overlooked nor 
omitted, and the materials for the seizure of both would require little 
more than the breath of government to create them. Two other ex- 
peditious ought at least to be prepared, and if not carried at once into 
effect might be avowed as intended. One against Newfoundland and 
another against Jamaica. The former would not require 4,000 men. 
The latter would require 20,000 and a reserve of 10,000. The ex- 
pense, and the difficulties of the attack on Jamaica I am perfectly 
aware of ; but I am also aware of the magnitude of the consequences 
which would result from an attack upon Jamaica. Its commercial con- 
sequence and the political influence of that commerce. Its being the 
only island which can subsist itself during a war. These are consider- 
ations that ought to tempt enterprise to surmount difficulties. The best 
mode of conducting such an expedition, the points of descent, the means 
to prepare it, and the measures to insure its accomplishment, would 
necessarily better result of inquiries and considerations more experienced 
than I presume to be. But I cannot be mistaken I think in the mo- 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 303 

mentous influence which the boldness of the idea of attacking Jamaica 
would produce on the Royal Exchange and in the Cabinet of George III, 
I believe the very menace would be better than a battle of Trafalgar 
and as decisive in its degree as the battles of Austerlitz or Jena. 

An actual war would of necessity give us the aid of the navies of 
France and Spain. Jamaica could be best attacked from Porto Rica 
or from Cuba or from both. The French under Bellecombe took 
Newfoundland with 400 men in the year 17G2; 4,000 provincials re- 
took the year after, without more than a dozen lives lost ; occupation 
would be conquest, and the effect on the British Fisheries, I need not 
describe to you who have written with so much intelligence on the 
subject. If there is war will it not be essential to have a camp at 
Saratoga or on the Lake Champlaiue ? And to keep a very vigilant 
eye on the Upper Canadians ; to repair or raise new defences at 
Detroit and Niagara. 

I have thrown these hasty reflections together in perfect assurance 
that they will meet a favorable reception. Every man owes to the 
Society of which he is a member the tribute of his services ; if my ideas 
are not such as better judgments would approve or act upon, I have 
the satisfaction of knowing they are fairly intended and will be so 
received, I am, &c. 

There is an English officer of the name of Connolly in this neighbor- 
hood. His deportment and other circumstances induce me to think he 
is on some mission. Lefevre an Irishman who you may recollect con- 
cerned in the Yazoo is constantly with him. They are both at Bristol 
at present. I have no opinion of Lefevre. 

This letter is not written to obtain an answer, but merely to offer 
the ideas it contains for consideration. I shall take the liberty some 
day this week of offering you some observations on the present condi- 
tion of Fort Mifflin. 

To Jefferson} 

Phila. Oct. 16, 1807 

Respected Sir, — I have just received yours of the 14th and shall 
attend to the matters noted in it. 

I have laid apart for you a copy of Jarrold's animadversions by way 
of answer to Malthus, in which my side of the question is taken against 
Malthus with much ability, tho' I think he has left a great deal unsaid. 

The conversations on chemistry, English Edit. I fear cannot be had. 
Cumberland I think may. 

Macmahon's Book and the Elements of Botany I can also get, and 
shall carry them on with me at the close of the next week. 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



304 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

Our election in the citij has been a very ardent one. My friends 
during my absence at Kiclnnond put nie up as Senator for the State, 
and this brouglit out the whole Tory progeny. We have liad 800 
votes more given in than at any former Election in this city, and altho' 
there were more votes for me than were ever given for any member of 
Congress of the same [lolitics, Swanwick, Clay, Jones, or McCIenachau, 
yet they polled 500 ahead ; no doubt there was enormous fraud, but 
there was also unprecedented exertion. As is often the case, tho' I 
had no knowledge of my own nomination, and was adverse to being 
elected, and tho' to be elected would have been most ruinous to my per- 
sonal affairs, the anger and irritation has been such, that hundreds now 
blame me as the cause of failure for suffering my name to be run. 

This singular direction of popular mistake affords me an opportunity 
that 1 have long looked for of making an effort to retire from politics 
altogether, and to devote the remainder of my time and capacity to 
the concerns of my growing family. This I mean to do in such a way 
as to avoid a false eclat and to still preserve the utility of the Aurora. 
My son whose competence to the duty has been tried will go on in the 
same track, and whenever my habits propel me to politics of course I 
will not restrain my feelings nor my exertions. Should war, or any 
serious exigency, demand my humble talents, they are as ever at your 
command. In the event of peace I must endeavor by industry to dis- 
charge the heavy encumbrances of debt which I incurred in supporting 
the cause of my country, which I have but partially discharged for a 
few years past, and the interest of which alone has been a dead weight 
upon luy industry. I think it due to the kind and constant good will 
and friendship with which you have honored me so uniformly anil so 
long to state these my feelings and purposes to 3'ou, lest misrepresenta- 
tion should give another hue to my conduct or pursuits when they 
become known. 

A person called on me this day stating that an armed British ship 
had met an American coasting vessel or pilot boat, and after abusing 
those on board the American vessel, delivered a letter for the British 
Ambassador. This letter he put into my hands under an impression 
that to have received it was illeg.al, and conliding that I would advise 
him what was best to do. I advised him to forward it to the Presi- 
dent, which he authorized me to do, and I have accordingly put it 
under a cover, for you. It goes by the same mail as this. I don't 
know where Mr. Erskine is, but I suppose at Washington. 

To Jefferson} 

(Received Dec. 5th. 1807) 
Respectf.T) Sir, — By the mail which carries this 1 have taken the 
liberty of sending you a copy of the first number of the J/ilitari/ library, 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



190G.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 805 

a compilation of my own ; it is my purpose to collect all that is to be 
had in the best books and to give them such a form as the first number 
exhibits, which may lead judicious men to in(juire and think, and in- 
form those who are uninformed. I have obtained thro' Genl. Uear- 
borne's kindness the use of several books from the War Ollice Library, 
and particularly the invaluable but prolix work of Gaibert, the whole 
substance of which I mean to comprehend in my work. I have the 
French system translated making about 700 manuscript pages, to 
which will be added perspicuous diagrams of all the modern move- 
ments. It will be seen that from the price of this number, I have not 
looked so much to profit as to public utility, and I persuade myself that 
the circulation of such a work would be of very great use. I have 
conversed much with Genl. Wdkinson on the subject, and meet his 
ideas as far as I was competent to discourse with a man of practical 
experience. 

I propose pre])aring as part of my work a Manuel for American 
militia, the object of which is to supply what is wanted in Steuben's 
little tract; and to accommodate it to the use of every description of 
troops, Infantry, cavalry, and artillery, and to add to it some ideas of 
combination of movement of the various kinds of force. I explain 
myself to you with the same frankness and unreserve that your uniform 
kindness has encouraged me always to do, perhaps it would appear 
upon consideration that this work would be worth recommending to 
such militia ollicers as are in Congress, for there is no work on military 
affairs extant which communicates any consistent information on more 
than one branch of service ; and a library of various books contains 
so much extraneous matter and besides the books are both scarce and 
exj)eusive, that it is scarcely possible to collect them for several years. 

Law suits have detained me here and will detain me till at least after 
the 20th instant, so that I shall not have the pleasure of delivering the 
books you ordered till the first week in January, Mr. Barton's botani- 
cal book is not to be had in sheets. Cumberland's work is to have a 
second volume; there is no English edition to be had here but in 
quarto, which I did not take, knowing that you preferred 8vos. 

Neither is there an English copy of Mrs. Bryan's Chemical Conver- 
sations to be had. 

Col. Burr was to sail this day for Richmond. I have not yet heard 
that he is gone ; he was arrested here on Tuesday at night at the suit 
I believe of Alexander Ilenry^ whom you may remember as notorious 
jobber in the 8 per cent loan ; it was ten o'clock at night before he 
obtained bail. I have not been able to learn who were his sureties. 

We are in a bad way here as to our militia. The uniform corps will 
not serve under McKean. He has ordered them to be called out in 
companies, to annoy them; and as no law authorizes they will not I 

39 



306 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

nuicli fear obey him ; the company I commanded formerly, now com- 
manded by Mr. Graves, will however by my advice turn out ; but 
Bush and some others say they will not, unless under your authority. 
I know hovv many delicate and unpleasant considerations might arise 
from these dispositions all flowing from the best and most honorable 
motives; but in the manner that they have been treated by McKean, 
the contumelious dismission of their commandant of the Legion and a 
variety of vexations that his malignant temper and the malignant dis- 
positions of his advisers have prompted, renders it a matter more 
unpleasant than surprising. As soon as I heard of it I waited on some 
of the oflicers, and endeavored to induce them to turn out. Capt. 
Greaves alone I could prevail upon ; but they have consented to call 
on the adjutant Genl. and converse with him. The argument they use 
by the bye is different from the true one. They say they are willing 
to turn out with their own officers, not with officers of McKean's nomi- 
nation, in whom they could have no confidence. They are willing to 
take their turn in the ordinary draft as other militia even uuder 
McKeau, but as the law does not oblige them to turn out as Volunteer 
corps and the President has not accepted their services, they will abide 
by the law. They add however that they are not ready to go from 
home and leave men behind them who are the deadly enemies of the 
Government, who are exempted from service & enjoy their property 
under a government for which they will not fight, and whose friends 
they would destroy. These matters are yet not publicly known, and 
no efforts shall be untried to prevent bad effects. I am, &c. 

Esenbeck to Duane.^ 

CiTT OF Washixgton', Jan: the 11th, 1808. 
Mr. Duane will oblige me to have the following Advertisement in- 
certed in your useful! Paper, and send the Ace' to Mr. Waitman your 
Agent and I will pay him. 

Advertisement. 
There is a curious old man near the Treasury Office in the City of 
Washington who served the United States near 15 Years, and he says: 
that from his Youth up he studied different foreign Languages, and 
now he is in his 57th Year and just finished his Studdies. for he found 
out a Language which he calls his own, which has the Power that he 
can convey his thoughts as far as the Eye can see, the Ear can hear 
and understanding can conceive, a distance of 4 miles in five minutes, 
and converse in Cypher with any Person he gives the Key on any Sub- 
ject whatever. lie thinks and says that if his delegraphical Language 

i Jeff. MSS. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 307 

which can be used by Land and water, would be applyed as a Dele- 
graph would have such effect and would answer a very good purpose 
in "War. He will prove it, and give the Key to the President of the 

u. s. 

Will : Esenbeck. 

To Jefferson} 

Philadelphia, Jan. 12, 1808 
Respected Sir, — There may or may not be something in the 
matter enclosed. if there is anything useful perhaps it may be ob- 
tained better without than with an advertisement, as the subject appears 
to me to be of very great importance. 

Tho' I think the Dictionary Telegraphy with signs by numbers refer- 
ring to the Words in the Dict'y, the most perfect system that can be 
devised. 

With the utmost respect. 



To Jefferson. 

Philadelphia, 17 January, 1808 

Respected Sir, — I think it my duty to enclose the letter herewith 
sent. I have cut the name of the person and his place of residence out, 
only in obedience to an injunction made to me repeatedly not to let his 
name be known as my correspondent. 

He is a man of unquestionable integrity, and is sufficiently wealthy 
to be above all temptations to forfeit his character for worldly motives ; 
he has sent collections of Books to be deposited in our public libraries, 
at his own expence, and became my correspondent wholly on account 
of his opinion of the Aurora, and the attachment which he feels towards 
your political fame and measures. I thought it necessary to say thus 
much of the writer, whose name I would give to you alone, because I 
am sure he would not object, but I do not send it, to guard against any 
accidents that might befal it in the way to you. 

I have procured all the information practicable concerning the mine 
of Zinc on Perkiomen (22 miles from this city) which with Specimens 
of the ores, I shall give to Capt. C. Irvine, to forward to the Sec'' at 
War. I need not urge to you the value of Zinc, if a large quantity of 
brass artillery are to be cast. 

There is no information of any kind here worth troubling you with. 
I am, &c. 

1 Jeff. MS& 



308 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

To Jefferson} 

Philadelphia, Jan. 29, 1808. 

Respected Sir, — The letter enclosed has just come to my hands; 
I have no acquaintance with the Gentleman who writes it, but have had, 
as he appears to know, received a number of communications more 
voluminous, but not so concise as this ; all of them concur in making 
representations as strong and some even stronger than the enclosed. 
That there has been a most nefarious scheme of speculation carried on 
there appears to me beyond doubt. I think it my duty to send this 
letter, aware at the same time that much must depend on the character 
of the accuser and his motives : but there is certainly a very general 
concurrence in his opinions. 

judge Woodward has written me a letter intimating a design to reply 
to a series of papers on the concerns of Michigan which will give the 
other side of the question. 

Mr. Hervey's letter is of course communicated in confidence. 
I am with affectionate respect 



To 3fadison. 

Phia Feb. 8, 1808 

Sir, — I expected before this time to have found some safe hand to 

transmit the Volume of papers by but have been until this day 

unsuccessful, a Gentleman who sets out in a day or two promises to 
take it under charge in his trunk; I have it for the purpose safely 
packed up. 

I should have sent it before had I not meditated going to Washing- 
ton myself, I find however that I can render more public service here 
than I could to myself at Washington, and have for the present 
abandoned the idea of going down ; meantime, if there is any mode in 
which I can render public service, or if I by any mistaken ideas of 
facts (for I have no guides or advices but my own judgment) I shall be 
very happy to be informed or corrected, so as to render service and to 
avoid doing any disservice ; however I know enough of the British 
Government and nation, to understand them pretty well, and the con- 
duct they have pursued is too much in character to admit of any second 
opinion upon rational grounds. This much I think it fit to say on 
public matters. 

Mr. John Bioren and myself have agreed to propose the printing of 
an Edition of the Laws of the U States in a neat form, perfectly corre- 
sponding with the ideas of an index and arrangement which you were 
pleased to mention to me about two years ago — 1 shall send you a 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



190G.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. • 309 

copy of a Volume of Laws as a Specimen of the manner and Execu- 
tion of the whole, and a specification of the terms and other particulars. 
I have associated with Mr Bioren on account of his excellence as a 
printer and because it would enable me to undertake business which 
my activity in the best interests of the country has hitherto prevented^ 
rather than promoted as might in justice have been expected. I only 
mention this subject now, and consider this only as a personal note, in 
order that when I send the book the circumstance may not appear pre- 
cipitate — I require no answer 

I am Sir with great Respect 

Your obed' Ser' 

W"" DUANE 

To Madison. 

Phil* Feb. 20, 1808 

Sir, — The enclosed information I conceive to be better disposed of 
in the Department of State than in a newspaper — and therefore trans- 
mit it. 

I respectfully suggest that as the communicator did not perhaps ex- 
pect to be thus before the Executive Department that in relation to 
him, to protect him from vengeance of Speculators, the letter be used 
only as in confidence. 

I have the honor to be 

Your obed Ser' 

W™ DuANE 

James Madison Esq Sec'y of State 

To Jefferson} 

Phila. (Sunday) March 20tli, 1808 
Respected Sir, — Capt. Norris' papers are in my hands, and should 
have been forwarded last week, had I not been (as I have been for six 
weeks past) harrassed by various law suits; ^ I am this day released to 
rest, but tomorrow my suit, or rather Gouverneur Morris's suit against 
me comes on. It begun on Thursday and may be expected to end 
tomorrow; I have had no counsel hitherto, but have been induced to 
call in Joseph Hopkinson, with a view to introduce a copy of Mr. 
Stevenson de Berkenrode's letter from Berlin in 1795, which upon 
common law principles of evidence they would not let me even read. 

1 Jeff. MSS. 

2 "The storm beats hard against me here still. Last week and this Law, 
Law, Law. On Wednesday I am to be tried on a libel suit of Yrujo's. Thurs- 
day for a conspiracy to prevail upon Govr. McKean to commission a man slieriff 
duly elected. The object is to keep me from Lancaster and to ruin my affairs — 
on which subjects I should take the liberty of saying more if you were a private 
citizen." Uuane to Jefferson, 29 February, 1808. 



310 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

The libel is in these words. " Whence did Mr. Gouverneur Morris 
draw his compeusation for his services at l^erliu after his dismission 
from the embassy to Frauce for carrying on an illicit correspondence.'^ 

The words in italic are the libel. 

I beg pardon for mentioning these things, but I have this further 
motive in doing it, that it will account for the deficiency of discussion 
and original matter generally for some time past. My mind has been 
wholly engrossed by these persecuting politicians, whose enmity against 
me is as acute and venomous at this moment, as at any former period. 
As soon as this suit is closed, I shall be free from law trammels till 
June ; on Tuesday or Wednesday I shall put Mr. Norris's papers in 
order and forward them ; I have advised him to obtain the affidavits 
from such persons as are at New York, and he has set about it. 

The poor venerable man has lost the use of his left arm and the fingers 
are drawn in a cluster by the contraction of the sinews from the blows 
he received in defending his head and body against the cruel rufiians. 
He has been a revolutionary man, and was it seems very active in his 
youth against the British ; his principles and language have never 
varied; and his character is that he always speaks the truth; among 
seafaring people, he is very well known under this character ; and it 
seems the British officer was not ignorant of it, since he paid him for 
country sake. 

The Randolphian Rescript has produced much the same effect as 
Timothy Pickering's. It has fixed men who were wavering and de- 
termined many to act in opposition to its dictates, who very possibly 
might have acted differently. Excuse me with your usual kindness. 
Ever affectionately & respectfully yours. 

To Jefferson} 

Phila. Aug. 9, 1808 

Respected Sir, — The inclosed letter contains information of a na- 
ture that ought not to be unknown to the Executive, and I therefore 
inclose it. 

The subject to which it relates induces me also to state, that much 
abuse of the Embargo has been committed in this port; I communicated 
to the Custom house information last week, of provisions and other 
articles put on board a vessel at one of our wharves ; and instances 
have been frequent and notorious. The inability of Genl. Shee for a 
long time past, to give energy to the office ; and the indecent hostility 
of Mr. Graaf the deputy Collector to the general administration and its 
public policy have combined to relax the due force of the law in a 
manner that is inconceivable unless on the scene of action. Indeed the 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 311 

Custom house is proverbially a den of disorganization and has been 
constantly one of the most fatal means of distraction and division be- 
tween the friends of the public policy, and the professed friends. The 
appointment of a firm and upright character as the successor of Gen. 
Shee will not only be essential to the support of the public policy and 
law, but will in the effect of the choice greatly influence the Elections 
in this district, which if something is not done by discountenancing those 
officers of the government of the U. S. who foment distraction, and 
selecting persons who will prefer public duty to all secret influence of 
vicious individuals, if some thing of this nature does not occur, we shall 
be saddled with three malignant Federalists, Geo. Latimer, Jos. Hemphill, 
and Peter A. Brown, for Congress. I do not undertake to name any 
person as suited to succeed Gen. Shee, because it might seem to be a 
wish to promote some individual rather than the public interest that 
influenced these remarks. Much caution and correct information from 
sources to be relied on, are certainly requisite to guard against interested 
representations, and the movements of the enemies of administration at 
our Coffee houses. 

In the State we shall carry our Presidential ticket without hazard, 
altho' I understand S. Maclay is coming forth with a Phillipic against 
Mr. Madison ; but he has already committed political suicide^ and what 
he may do can be only barely offensive without being destructive. I 
think it an act of friendship to my friend Leiper, who is one of the 
Securities for the Marshal of this district, to apprise you that I fear 
Mr. Leiper may suffer by being bail. Smith has purchased lands and 
built a kind of palace that cost about 18 to 20,000 %. The property 
is covered by the name of Rebecca Robins the sister of Smith's wife, 
who it is well known had no more than 500 £ currency her portion. 
As this evil must grow with time, and as I have spoken and others have 
spoken to Mr. L. who appears at a loss what to do, I think it but justice 
to apprize you of it, so that Mr. L. may at least take steps to secure 
himself. I fear too, that there is a shipping concern in which the same 
person with his son-in-law a Mr. Dennis have been engaged, may tend 
to increase a future involvement, as Dennis has been very lately a bank- 
rupt, and has sent a vessel under an Orleans clearance to Antigua, and 
I am told the vessel has returned new painted and under another name. 
I mention these particulars only to shew the extreme precariousness of 
the security. 

There are many things which occur here that ought to be known, 
but I am apprehensive of being too troublesome to you. 
Ever respected sir, &c. 



312 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

To R. C. Weightman. 

Pnii/ Dec 20, 1808 

D'^ RoGF.R. — By Samuel Carswell, Esqr of this city, who goes oa 
business to Washington, I send you a volume of the Laws of Pennsyl- 
vania, which I wish you to present without delay to the Secretary of 
State, and signify to him that it is your intention to propose to him the 
printing of an Edition of the Laws of the U. S. in that manner, or oa 
a size to correspond with Tucker's Blackstoue, and with such an Index 
as he suiigested two or three years ago in a conversation with me, the 
Index is in fact already oompleated, in the manner of that executed for 
the Pennsylvania volume accompanying, and will be continued ; it is 
contemplated to give to the edition double numerical references ; that 
is to say as this edition would comprise in one page nearly two of the 
existing Edition : the marginal numbers of the former editions published 
by Authority would be marked on the margin, opposite the line of this 
new editon which begun each page in the old ; so that reference could 
be made by this comprehensive Edition to the old Octavos from the 
beginning of the Eed' Government. 

I enclose you the Rough Sketch made about three years ago, be- 
tween Bioreu and myself, and tho' his name may or may not appear 
he would be an equal sharer in it for in fact the Indexes have been 
procured and Executed at his Expence already. 

You will take a copy of the Rough Sketcli for your own information, 
and vou may if you find it expedient exhibit that as well as this letter, 
for I wish to have no dealing in which there is reserve. You will be 
able better to judge of the prospect of success in such an application 
than I can, and it is absolutely expedient that I do something to get 
mvself out of the hands of the Ranks here, who worry me every day, a 
situation in which I never should have been placed were it not for the 
Washington Establishment, from the involvement of which I have never 
yet completely extricated myself. 

If you do not see the business as clear as you should require, write by 
Post without delay — but take care of the book and present it at least 
with an intimation of what it is sent for. 

I wish you would read my last letter to yon over again — you seem 
to mistake in the extreme what I wrote [illegible] Yrs. 

To Jefferson.^ 

(Private) Jan. 23, 1809 

Sirj. — The present state of public affairs and the events which in 
one shape or another must arise out of it, calls for the exercise of all 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 813 

your sagacity and resolution. You have stood the storm of the Revo- 
lution and passed through it with solid glory. You have sustained the 
shocks of a contemplated revolution more insidious, but not less menac- 
ing, and carried the national vessel safe through unexampled vicissi- 
tudes. There is a time when it would be better to perish than survive 
the ruins of one's country ; and I very seriously apprehend, that unless 
some measures be speedily adopted which may fix the national senti- 
ment, that there will be a struggle of a most serious nature. 

Impressions such as these alone could tempt me to intrude thus upon 
you, but I conceive it to be a duty of affection, to lay my suggestions 
before you, and trust confidently to your wisdom to decide whether I 
am mistaken in my apprehensions or in the mode which I venture to 
suggest as an immediate remedy. My means of information no doubt 
are partial, but such as they are, they are formed with as dispassionate 
a mind and with as earnest a purpose to ascertain true reports as can 
be found in the community. If I am mistaken, then it is my judg- 
ment, and my intention will be my excuse. 

I think the time is now come to ask and act upon this question. 
W/iat IS the best means of preserving the fruits of the Revolution from 
wreck ? 

I believe that the British government have brought it to this issue and 
are determined to put our means to the test. I believe they have system- 
atized conspiracy in the bosom of the land, and have lavished and laid 
up fuel for a conflagration. 1 believe that were there not a powerful 
back, that the treasonable and outrageous proceedings which have 
already taken place, would never have been begun ; and I am persuaded 
that forbearance has only taught them to calculate upon perfect im- 
punity. The resources which they have provided, the materials with 
which they act, the manner of the action, indicate a determination to 
go to the most desperate lengths, and unless something be done, they 
will shake this continent to its foundation. No doubt the case is sur- 
rounded with difficulties — but it is for that very reason that it should 
be met with resolution ; the very impunity with which outrage pro- 
gresses, is a sure aliment and aid to its progress. 

Permit me to place the case before you with a view to its operation 
in society. Every man of observation knows the fact, that public dis- 
cussion, argument, and reasoning upon measures of policy, are not 
addressed to the intelligent and the virtuous part of the community ; 
neither are they ever addressed to the hearts or heads of the depraved. 
There are in every society large masses of men, who never think or 
reason ; some who have no capacity for thought ; many whose judg- 
ments are too weak to be constant to any fixt ideas; and very many 
who assume a mask of moderation or liberality only to cover their dia- 
bolical selfishness and depravity ; very unfortunately this mixture of 

40 



314 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

ignorance, imbecility, instabilit}' and liypocrisy is very numerous. It 
forms perhaps a full third of every society ; and it is to the major part 
of this mass that all public discussions are addressed. They in fact make 
the majority in all critical times, and are as ready to be thrown 
into the balance on one side or the other, according to the mode in 
which they are addressed. With those who may be called the innocent 
classes of this portion of the people, whenever there appears to be vigor on 
one side and moderation on the other, they take the part of moderation, 
until the vigorous party become daring ; they then withdraw to watch 
the conflict, and to join with whatever party that appears likely to be 
triumphant. It is a selftsh feeling which governs them ; and as they 
are not sufficiently well informed to fix an opinion for themselves, will 
go as readily wrong as right according to the impression which is made 
upon them. Indeed in such critical times, as there is more zeal and 
industry bestowed to produce wrong than to preserve right, the danger 
is greater; men in the right calm, confident and unsuspicious rely upon 
the virtue which they feel and appropriate similar feelings to others 
who have no consciousness of their influence ; and it is on this innocent 
part of the community that the hypocritical portion act, and it is from 
these hypocrites that the agents of corruption and aflliction are selected. 

In such a case loJtat are the best means to he pursued for public safety ? 
How is the evil to be remedied. How is this innocent class, who ac- 
cording to my ideas have little force of mind, little judgment, who are 
so easily led wrong as well as right, and to whom wisdom and virtue 
are under the necessity of paying the homage of argument ? It is a 
painful picture, but it is true, it unhappily is no fanciful feature, it is an 
existing being, and may be transformed into a tyger, a lion, or accord- 
ing to the regimen a lamb. 

Who can forget that has had experience of the Reign of Terror, 
when a minority in fact of the whole nation terrified the nation and 
silenced even men of virtue. In prosperity they say we forget past 
sorrows. The time is now come to awaken the painful recollections 
of those days when you could not walk the public streets in security, 
when no man's home was safe who was not a minion or a sycophant of 
power ; what they accomplished in power the same party will again 
accomplish out of power, if some measures are not taken to rescue the 
unthinking part of the nation out of the hands of the abandoned and 
corrupt. They already have proceeded so far as to set the government 
at defiance, openly violate the laws, and call for a dissolution of the 
Union. It is sickening to witness the airs of insolence and haughty 
contumely with which the American citizen is daily treated by the 
accredited agents of England. Bond had the impudence to tell me to 
my teeth that it teas a party question that now agitated the Union ! 

But what is the remedy ? I say first try what the eflfect will be 



1906.] LETTERS OF WTLLIAIM DUANE. 315 

of removing the alimentary poison, which is suffered to infect society. 
The poison being removed the body politic has vigor and health. In 
any other nation on earth the leaders of the sedition now spread through 
the union would long since have been conducted to the dungeon or the 
gibbet ; I do not admire such remedies ; thank God they do not belong 
to our code of health ; and it is because I wish that they never should, 
and that those who are laboring for the gallows should be themselves 
protected from their own worst enemies themselves. 

But while the benevolence of our institutions interposes no check, 
the evil is progressing ; the abandoned and corrupt are left to make 
proselytes among the weak and the wicked; the necessities of the times 
throw a considerable body of persons, who have no springs of action 
but their necessities, into the ranks of discontent ; and if it is suffered 
to proceed must inevitably accumulate, with what effects it is difficult 
to anticipate. 

The remedy which appears to me at this moment preferable to all 
others is the suspension of the functions of all the accredited agents of 
England, in the most formal manner; their conduct notoriously calls 
for it and justifies it; the sus[)ension of connnerce itself would be a 
sufficient motive; but their interference and insolence in our affairs is 
so notorious that public sentiment will not only ap[)laud, but it will 
itself hold back thousands from falling into the snares of corruption ; 
it will have an immediate effect on the nation ; the friends of the 
Republic are in truth in a state of despondency ; they see the audac- 
ity of the British agents every day passed over with impunity; respect 
for the government and laws alone lias restrained the people here from 
doing great mischief; I have bestowed days and nights to avert such 
evils; and have incurred reproach for my '•^pusillanimous moderation." 
This disposition of the people and the forbearance of men of influence, 
is well known to them. Tiie suspension of the functions of the British 
accredited agents would at once exhibit the determination of the gov- 
ernment, and while it gratified the good, would fix the wavering and 
appal the profligate. Should they persevere iu audacity after suspen- 
sion, such a notification as Yrujo got would sustain and give new con- 
fidence to the people in their government; and the measure has so 
many circumstances to justify the procedure, that it could not be con- 
sidered as a war measure. You have already dismissed foreign minis- 
ters and consuls without its being considered as a war measure. You 
have recalled ministers and consuls under similar circumstances. And 
England has done the same. I have not the vanity to suppose I can 
give you any information on this head, but I wish to shew that it is not 
a light or hasty conception ; but such a measure as carries on it all that 
could be wished of efficacy without violence. It cannot be supposed 
that six newspapers in this city, four in New York, four in Boston 



316 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

three in Baltimore, two iu Norfolk, and two in Charleston could be 
supported as efficiently as they are without secret supplies. I find it 
impossible to get out of debt with the paper of greatest circulation in 
the country ; and my personal expenses, beside clothing and food would 
be discharged with fifty dollars a year ! 

As to the effect on England, I candidly declare I do not believe it 
would have any ; I believe that nothing which we can do, will ever 
induce her to alter her course of Policy. I believe she would have 
struck a blow long ago on some point of the continent, had not the idea 
of a civil war been confidently calculated upon. If the British agents 
remain they will realise the calculation — if they are dismissed we 
shall be saved. 

The necessity of some decisive step to assure confidence in the friends 
of the government is imperative. The virtuous part of the nation look 
for it with impatience ; and it is equally necessary to preserve the 
wavering part of the community from flying into the arms of the public 
enemies ; for then civil war would inevitably ensue ; and it is among 
that class that in all convulsions the most cruel of mankind are found ; 
those who are now the pimps and panders of foreign agency, and 
cloathe their persons and their lips with words of sanctity and softness, 
would become the cut-throats of men of virtue. There is therefore in 
my humble opinion little time to be lost. A few weeks, or accidents 
which are not to be foreseen, or causes purposely prepared perhaps by 
an inveterate enemy, may convulse the nation ; and the enemy may 
be beforehand with the government. I trust my fears however founded 
will find me an excuse for trespassing with them upon your better 
judgment and precious time. I am, &c. 

To . 

Phil'^ Feb. 1, 1809 

Sir, — The enclosed letter and draft will explain each other — in an 
effort to make an entire settlement of all my personal affairs I have 
addressed, M'' Adams of Orange Q House — the draft of M'' Gooch not 
being indorsed by M'' Adams is my reason for troubling you with the 
letter along with the draft. 

I wish to send a small packet and some information to Mr. Lyman 
our consul at London, and am desirous it should go safely — may I take 
the liberty of sending it forward to go along with the dispatches for 
England ? 

I am Sir with great respect 

Your obed' Ser' 

W™ DUANE 

The town meeting was very triumphant — But I am sorry to say 
that the private animosities of individuals greatly damp the best efforts 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 317 

of the friends of the government — tho' we endeavor to conceal it from 
our adversaries, who do not so clearly discover as we feel the effects. 

To Jefferson} 

Phi LA. Feb. 4, 1809 

Dear & respected Sir, — I have learned that the military rank 
which you were pleased to nominate me for, has been confirmed by an 
honorable majority of 21 to 10 in the Senate. I owe you tlie expres- 
sion at least of my thanks for your goodness on this occasion, and for 
the general benignity with which I have always been honored and 
favored by you ; it is to me a very great solace, that exposed as I have 
been and daily am to the persecutions of the most malignant of men, 
I yet hold a place in your esteem and regard. 

I should not trespass on you at this critical period were it not due to 
your goodness and to my own honor to put you in possession of my 
sentiments at this particular moment. The report of a change in the 
War Department renders this more particuhirly necessary, lest I should 
be placed between two duties, to shrink from or to abandon one of 
which might be held dishonoi'able. 

Unless the Eastern people, or a British force to aid rebellion, should 
stir up civil war, I see no likelihood of military conflict within the U. 
States. There may be a conflict in Louisiana or Florida, and it may 
be found necessary to invade Canada, Nova Scotia, or even N. Found- 
land ; but these are to appearance remote events ; and as the military 
station I possess thro' your favor is not at all subject to more [than] 
the trouble of parade and such studies as duty or taste may lead to 
thro' that station, I can speak of the subject without any danger of 
being suspected of a wish to shrink from danger, if danger were immi- 
nent and my services called for. If there was danger, I should require 
to be placed in front of it ; there is none, and I may therefore without 
reserve state to you the motives of my present address. 

As any man could render as much service as I could in ordinary, 
and that therefore my loss or my absence would not be missed in any 
position that I could be placed by my rank in the army ; I have con- 
sidered, whether in the situation in which I am placed, there may not 
be danger of rendering what was intended for my honor and credit, the 
cause of my ruin and that of a numerous family — these considerations 
to which no man of morals and honor can be indifferent, have called 
upon me to state to you precisely how I am placed. 

You perfectly well know that the family of B. F. Bache has de- 
pended wholly and exclusively on me for subsistence and education. 
I have brought up his four charming boys, the eldest now 16, the 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



318 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

other three progressively two years in succession youuger, I have four 
youuger children of my own by the mother of those sweet boys, beside 
my three elder children two of whom are married and have children 
and are in fact also dependent on me only. 

Were I free from pecuniary encumbrances, or so circumstanced as 
to make a provision for this numerous family, my personal obligations 
would be in some measure enlarged ; but as I stand in relation to these, 
and as the military pay of a lieutenant colonel could not much more 
than support myself, and must leave them destitute if I were to abandon 
my present means of support. 

But this is not all. I unfortunately encumbered myself with a debt 
of 22,000 dollars by making an establishment at Washington ; from 
which debt I have not been able at this time to clear off more than 4,000. 
So that I am now obliged to be dependent on Bank credits for that 
amount of 18,000 dollars. Were I to quit my present business upon 
the duty attached my rank while there is peace, I have no Doubt that 
in three weeks the banks would close my account, and that the little 
stock I possess in trade would be sold by a sheriff. As it is I am con- 
stantly harrassed with this bank influence, and it is not a little aggra- 
vated by the efforts made by officers of your appointment to increase' 
this embarrassment and indeed to destroy nie altogether. My affairs 
were no doubt brightening when the general storm of foreign outrage 
came on ; and now through great personal labor I manage still to keep 
progressing better instead of growing worse ; and a few years with the 
same assiduity and resolution would place me out of debt and render 
the remainder of my years easy and independent, as I should desire 
to be. 

There is however a suit pending against me in the Circuit Court be- 
fore Judge Washington. A Tory house at Boston searched throughout 
India and found the executors of a Doctor Nelson with whom I had 
commercial concerns, and in whose hands was found an old bond for 
500 Rupees (250 dollars) this bond was bought for 20 Rupees by the 
house in Boston, and a suit instituted against me for the amount with 
the interest of India 12 per cent per annum from the day of the date, 
that is from 1791 to this time, amounting to more than 2,000 $. This 
bond was in fact paid, but poor Nelson is dead, and I have ever been 
too indifferent about money to have been careful enough to see it can- 
celled. Yet I offered to pay it again, but nothing less than bond and 
interest too would be accepted, altho' I was plundered of ten thousand 
pounds and sent by force to Europe without crime or accusation. I 
have been particular in this case only to shew you how far Tory enmity 
will go for vengeance ; and to shew you the hazard which my family is 
exposed to and would be exposed to were I sent to any position so re- 
mote from hence as to endanger me at the banks, or carry me out of the 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 319 

rauge of the courts of law, in which I am doomed I fear to Unger out 
my life. 

1 have several suits and perhaps you may be surprised to learn that 
Mr. Snyder will not enter nolle prosequis on the two suits instituted by 
Trujo against me, and that I must continue to run the gauntlet of the 
courts under Snyder's administration as well as under McKean's. Dr, 
Romayne has instituted another suit against me for implicating him 
with Blount, and this is to be tried before Judge Washington, and a 
Jury summoned by a Marshal, who has as a Director of a Bank caused 
my credit to be sunk in that bank, and an investigation of my affairs by 
a committee of Bank Directors, some of whom were my most hostile 
political enemies. 

This exposition of my situation I have deemed necessary to shew 
you in order that whatever destination it may be intended to fix for me 
in relation to the military rank, it may be considered how far I ought 
to be or not to be kept in view. The summonses of law, and attend- 
ance on the courts, I am bound by bail and otherwise to attend. No 
doubt if a war were to take place I should risk all the consequences 
and join the army in defence of my country; but as it is I cannot avoid 
nor would I evade them under any false colour of duty. 

It may perhaps be said I ought not to have accepted because I must 
have known my situation. When general Wilkinson first signified to 
me that such a thing was intended, I stated expressly, that unless there 
was a war I could not accept any military station ; but that in the event 
of a war, I would not refuse any ; and when it was tendered to me after- 
wards I inferred that it was the sign of an immediate war, I knew I 
could be useful and I instantly determined to accept. 

On the other hand I have been requested by some friends who know 
my situation now to resign, since the Senate have conferred the honor 
you proposed ; I have replied that would be repaying your kindness 
with such ingratitude as I could not be guilty of ; and which would be 
at this time at least unjust and ungenerous toward you. 

In this predicament I am placed. In the event of war, I am at the 
disposal of my country in any position they deem me fit for. But with- 
out the necessity existing, I could not accept of any remote station that 
would take me farther than two days journey from this place. As a 
new Secretary of war may not be selected from those gentlemen with 
whom I have always agreed in Politics ; and as there are several who 
tho' supporters of the administration have been very hostile to me, I 
think it necessary in such circumstances to put you to whom I am 
bound by gratitude and affection in possession of my real situation and 
my feelings. 

The emoluments of the Lt. Colonelcy are in my estimation nothing. 
I pay two of my clerks each a sura larger than the pay of that rank ; 



320 MASSACHVSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

and should, if it w:i5 not that I have performed some useful service, 
not have accepted any pay ; but 1 have beeu re;xlly serviceable at Tort 
Mittiin and in the recruiting business here. 

You will soon have to retire from otfiee, and I shall not while I live 
perhaps ever find a man like you to whom 1 can speak with the free- 
dom and the confidence of integrity reposing in the bosom of wisdom 
and benevolence. To Mr. Madison I am very little kuown. and some 
of his friends who have done me a disservice and contributed to my 
embarrassments by their injustice vvill perhaps never forgive me, and 
render any usefulness that I might be capable of nugatory from a want 
of intelligence existing. 

If however any views which you may have as to me may induce you 
to think that I could be rendered useful, and particularly in any emer- 
gency when men of intelligent minds may be required. I shall hold 
myself bound to obey ; and if my opinions or suggestions, on any branch 
of public atlairs that come within the range of an active and observing 
mind ; 1 shall be ever ready to obey any call that may be made on me. 
Tiiis letter I address to yourself with an assunuice of my most alfec- 
tionate and earnest wishes for your happiness. 



To Madison. 



Fun.* Mnv ;>^ ISOO 



Respected Sir, — Public motives, such as I conceive calculated to 
render service to the interests and honor of your administration, induce 
me to take the liberty of addressing you. The unliappy contlict which 
has arisen out of the case of Olmstead is now quieted so far as the law 
and the parties iu that case are involved. The Militiamen who under a 
blind opinion of obedience to their superiors have trespassed are now 
imprisoned. Gen. Bright to o months and eight others to 1 month each 
— the former to pay '200 and each of the latter oO dollars fine. 

Bright is a plain man of no cultivation, bred to the sea i!i rough :is 
that element — he however served as a lieutenant in the military dur- 
ing the Revolution, and was a prisoner on boaixi the fioating dungeons 
at N. York, from which he made his escape by stratagem. He was 
once wealthy, but has been ruined by a partner of the name of Delhi, 
and is now in very iuditierent circumst;uices ; he is a truly honest man, 
but what is very common with such men. very liable to be imposed 
upon by knaves, such was his misfortune in the recent case, an involve- 
ment which is to be attributed wholly to the intrigues of Cha* Smith, 
son of the late Parton Smitii who, having considerable landed property 
iu arrear to the Su^te, has labored with too much success to embroil 
the State, so as to produce such a change as may alYord him means to 
avoid paying what he owes, amounting as I am told to G0,000 dollars. 



1906. J LETTERS OF \yiLLIAM DDANE. 321 

This man operating upon tlie want of understanding of Mr Snyder and 
the intriguing character of Mv Boileau, Secretary of the Commonwealtli, 
a man superficial in every respect, but cunning and in that quality 
proficient even to profligacy ; Laycock a member of assembly who is 
endeavoring to raise up a spirit of resistance on the questions long 
agitated concerning appeals in Land causes ; and Findley the State 
ti'easurcr, a man more capable than any of the rest, but more close and 
insidious in his plans; these men are the real authors of the mischief; 
and it is this little junta who called in Smith, as a legal aid, because 
they had no man of legal education or of correct legal judgment amongst 
them ; and who resorted to him under the expectation of being served 
in their views; he was to be rewarded with a seat on the Bench for 
his services ; but the bubble burst, and both parties are disappointed , 
Smith is not a Judge, and the case of Olmstead has established a prece- 
dent fatal to their projects. 

My conception of the case as it now stands is that as the law is 
satisfied, the clemency of the Executive promptly interposed would 
have the effect of frustrating the malignant purposes of those who are 
already seeking to engender feuds and divisions out of this case. My 
sole object in addressing you is to this end ; and the government would 
derive here much credit for a timely termination of the imprisonment 
of those citizens ; it would be more decisive in such a case, if the act of 
release were communicated thro' some well known and avowed friend 
of your administration rather than thro' the formal channel of the law 
department ; since we already look forward to guard against the effects 
of these events on the political affairs of the state in three and four 
years hence. All the men are married men with families, excepting 
one only. 

I trust. Sir, that the motives of this address will find with you a kind 
reception, and excuse me for the liberty of making it. 
I have the honor to be with respect 

Your obed' Ser' 

W" DUANE 

I do not write under the expectation of an answer — my wish is to 
submit my ideas on the case to your judgment with fairness — and I 
make no doubt that you will decide as shall be in your judgment most 
conducive to the public interests. 

To Henri/ Dearborn, 

Phila. July 27. 1809 
Dr. Sir, — Immediately upon the receipt of yours of the 22d I set 
about the enquiry you wished me to make concerning Sheet Iron. 
Some days will elapse before I can advise you with certainty and in 

41 



322 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

such a way as to put you in possession of tlie best information. I have 
written to my old friend Col. Udree of Clay in Berks county, who is 
himself an eminejit Iron-master and who supplies this city largely. 

Here as yet I can only learn that the cut nails are not made from 
what is called Sheet-\Tou, but from what is called hoop iron and nail 
rod iron ; the hoop iron wrought at our penitentiary here I believe 
costs about 10 cents the pound, but this is not from authentic informa- 
tion ; I write you now only to let you know that I have received your 
letter and will attend to it with great pleasure. 

The affairs with England are such as every rational man ought to 
have expected. I believe Jackson is sent to put us in that situation 
which must involve us in a war with France if we receive him, in war 
with England if we refuse him. I beUeve further that he is sent at 
the instigation of persons among us, tliat is persons in your State, for 
there can be no doubt of the facts lately published concerning S. Wil- 
liams' letter to Mr. Preble at Paris about the proposed separation of 
the Union. 

It is in my judgment the best policy of our government to procrasti- 
nate and wait for events in Europe, where we have in fact been best 
served and always rescued from impending peril. 

Tills will be best also to let our Ships come home again, all that shall 
be permitted! And those whose infamous clamours against the wise and 
protecting policy of their country, ought to be made to suffer by their 
own measure of open commerce ; in another point of view it will also be 
better, for you must know how utterly unfit our System is for war. 
What man is there who could stand the responsibility of any military 
undertaking or enterprize ; how could it be conducted under existing 
laws and a total want of organization^ of Sy:tem, of experience, of mili- 
tary knowledge ; when the principles of modern war are understood by 
scarcely ten men of the profession ; when we have artillerists who know 
not how to fire a cannon, and some of the oldest officers who never 
fired or saw fired a mortar. I speak to this point from experience where I 
was posted by you, and from the information of the officers themselves ; 
all whom I have conversed with speak in the same terms : and when 
on the 4th July I directed a detachment of 20 men from Fort Alifflin 
to march with our little corps to Phila. Capt. Read wished to be ex- 
cused, that there was not a man in his garrison who knew how to 
handle a spunge. If you were in your former station I should be 
apprehensive of stating this to you, and the same delicacy will prevail 
now as to Dr. Eustis ; because it would be considered perhaps in a 
different light from the intention. Indeed my dear Sir, the opportunity 
you gave me by placing me in a military command has added to my 
knowledge at the same time that it has encreased my chagrin. The 
very structure of our military establishment is such, and the indifference 



190G.] 



LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 323 



or the want of a discerning and creative power to give it form and 
vigor would be with me alone a full inducement to avoid by every 
means not abject the commencement of hostility. Suppose an expedi- 
tion were devised against Canada or Halifax, we should see Pickering 
in the Senate and Randolph in the other house immediately trans- 
formed into military critics, and by way of shewing their capacity to 
cavil at military designs they would expose and frustrate the best pos- 
sible plans; for when we see both houses of Congress led away on 
subjects which they ought to comprehend, how much more effectual 
would sophistry and plausible assertion operate where the orators and 
auditors were wholly ignorant of what they were talking about. This 
is strong, but it is true & honest language, which men m authority 
ought to hear, but which they will not regard until misfortune opens 
their eyes and ears and senses. 

I do not like to intrude upon men in authority, it is so much the 
fashion to do so only to ask favors ; and this asking of favors is so often 
the motive that it is not surprising it should be so thought. To Mr. 
Jefferson I could say any thing without fear of being mistaken ; 1 have 
too little acquaintance with Mr. Madison to take the liberty to volun- 
teer my ideas upon him ; tho' to all appearance for eight or ten years 
past I have been as little mistaken as if I had a constant communication 
with the heads of Departments. 

If I had an opportunity to address Mr. Madison now, I would say 

to him Let Mr. Jackson come forth, let him exhibit his credentials 

and having taken a copy, treat him with a stern civility ; and as there 
is a precedent, if my memory serves me, during Gen. Washington's 
administration he might be informed in a finished note of diplomatic 
complaisance, that as the Senate are the constitutional advisers of the 
President his credentials would be laid before them ; upon any ditS- 
culty being made by him, the necessity of the case would be reinforced 
by the disavowal of Mr. Erskine's engagements ; and a willingness might 
then be expressed to listen to any evidence that Mr. Erskine had not 
been authorized to promise as he had done. 

A proposal might be made for an interview and reciprocal expositions 
of the instructions of both Mr. Erskine & Mr. Jackson ; or Mr. Erskine 
might be invited to exhibit his justification, or Mr. Jackson to shew he 
had not such instructions. A refusal to do either of these things would 
gain time for deliberation ; and care should be taken to guard the sea- 
ports against the usual companions and followers of Mr. Jackson. At 
Munich and Carlsruhe, he associated with Sir Arthur. 

Mr. Taylor organized that conspiracy to assassinate Bonaparte for 
which the Duke of Enghien was shot. 

If Mr. Erskine does not justify himself here, or offer what he con- 
siders as his justification, so that our government may say whether he 



324 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

was or not, it is not easy to discover how Jackson can be received and 
accredited. 

Tliere could be no means so fit and suitable as a meeting of the Sec- 
retary of State and one or more of our heads of Departments with Mr. 
Erskine and Mr. Jackson, and an explicit communication of documents. 

If Lord Auckland (as is reported) should be sent he might also 
attend, and the Secty of State might report to the President & Senate 
the result ; and until this should be determined there might be a sus- 
pension of any reception of Jackson, whom in fact we cannot receive 
without going to war ; and against whom a remonstrance and denial 
should go to England by the first dispatch or by a special vessel. 

These enquiries might afford time while such a message should be 
sent to Mr. Pinckney. 

I fear very much lest this new emissary who is sufficiently desper- 
ate for a leader of assassins, and if I mistake not was tbe person who 
negotiated the murder of the Emperor Paul, should produce serious 
mischief, for he will be furnished with every means of corruption. 

My best respects to Mrs. Dearborne. 

I am Dr Sir with sincere esteem yours. 

To Madison. 

Nov^ 1, 1809 

Sir, — M' Christopher Fitzsiramons of Charleston, South Carolina, 
and M'' Hugh Calhoun of Philadelphia, the former one of the most 
respectable men in his respectable State, & a zealous friend to your 
principles and measures, and those of your predecessor — M"^ Calhoun is 
a merchant of this city, of the same principles. 

They persuade themselves and flatter me, that the best manner they 

could obtain an introduction to you is by handing a note from me ; you 

will perceive. Sir, that it is more a wish that this should be real than a 

consciousness that I am entitled to it which induces me to comply with 

their wish, you will however excuse me when you know M"^ Fitz- 

simmons as well as M' Calhoun. 

Accept Sir my most respectful wishes 

Y' obed' Ser 
Phila Nov^ 1, 1809. 

To Madison. 

Phil* 1. Dec'. 1809 
Sir, — Every man owes to his country the best services of which he 
is capable ; if in an upright zeal to fulfil this obligation a man may 
overate the value of his conceptions, the intention to do good will at 
once excuse the attempt and apologize for whatever trouble he may 
give in communicating the result of his reflections. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 325 

In the present situation of the national affairs, and considering that 
the uniform policy of the belligerents is now irrevocably fixt, as well 
as by fear and necessity on the part of Great Britain, as by interest 
and the pride of triumph on the other, that course which is best adapted 
to the interests and policy of the United States, tho' it cannot be very 
well mistaken by men of sober minds, is not so easily pursued directly 
as it would be were the attacks upon the nation open instead of insidi- 
ous — or by other weapons than those of diplomacy and intrigue. 

The country has not been more united on any occasion perhaps since 
the revolution as on the present occasion ; the attack on the Chesa= 
peake struck the influence of England to its foundations ; and had 
Congress maintained the Embargo and called forth the Militia of Massa- 
chusetts only to enforce the laws; that influence could never have 
reared its crest ; the Mission of Rose would have been a mission of 
temporary accommodation at least ; and instead of the broken engage- 
ments of Erskine, and the contumacious audacity of Jackson, we should 
now have had either the open commerce of the World or the applause 
and respect of mankind as our passport to the friendship of nations after 
a peace shall have been established. 

It is now a matter of the first importance to consider how the nation 
can best act under the present aspect of human affairs. It is morally 
certain that a peace whenever it takes place will be followed by an 
establishment of some fixt rules of law by which the nations who shall 
concur in them will be governed in their intercourse with each other ; 
that some code analogous to the principles recognized in the writings 
of Barlow, Paine, Azzuni, and more early asserted by the Armed Neu- 
trality of 1780, tho' not in so enlarged a sense ; and that such nations 
as may either withhold their concurrence, or refuse to maintain them 
will be placed out of the law of civil society. The first question then is 
what course ought the United States to pursue in such circumstances? 

This question however cannot be determined until a previous en- 
quiry is made, what can the U. S. do under such circumstances ? After 
this is examined the path appears not to be incumbered with any serious 
difficulties ; and even this question can be met with perfect confidence 
and security if the Representatives of the people do not again abandon 
the executive ; or that the executive determines to support the laws of 
the land whenever they are established. It is not my intention to say 
that the Executive did not act with a discretion truly benignant at the 
period when Massachusetts appeared to threaten a dissolution of the 
Union ; but I am still convinced that had the Militia of IMassachusetts 
or only 5000 men been embodied that the government and laws of the 
Union would have triumphed, and that there neither would have been 
a life lost nor a factious collusion with the agents of England exhibited 
since. 



326 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

What can we now do ? This question involves others, and particu- 
larly this ; are there any means by which the national sentiment can be 
concentrated so as to bid defiance to every movement or menace of 
faction. It is not necessary to my present purpose to enter into the 
discussion of any collateral questions, since my intention is to offer the 
suggestions of my mind on this point aloue. If this point can be ac- 
complished the choice of means and measures afterwards will not be 
uncertain. If what I conceive proper to be pursued should yet fall 
short of the extent of advantage which I anticipate, even then we 
should not in any case be in a worse situation than we are without 
doing any thing ; and if I conceive right all that the most benevolent 
wishes or the most zealous virtue could desire would be attempted 
by us. 

The policy of the government and the real happiness of the people 
have concurred in rendering the nation adverse to the calamitous resort 
of war. The impossibility of raising large armies, as well as the unex- 
aggerated danger of such establishments have the same operation ; and 
the want of objects sufficiently contiguous to tempt enterprize, damps 
in a great degree the ardor of those whose military passions would be 
excited to a dangerous extent, were the temptations nearer at hand. 
It is impossible for this nation then to go to war, but when the whole 
people are united, when it is a sentiment of common danger or common 
resentment. Let me add another reason, the total want of a miHtary 
system, or speaking largely of military ideas, incapacitates the U. S. 
from going to war by land. 

Under all these difficulties if we were called upon for defense, the 
sense of danger would supersede the arrangements of policy : and the 
systems which we are now wholly destitute of would (tho' with a 
large purchase of blood) grow out of our dangers ; we should as in the 
Revolution and as Peter the Great acquired his knowledge learn to 
conquer by being often defeated. I conceive war may be avoided. 
The purpose of this address is to suggest my ideas of the means. 

Having exhausted all the artifices of Diplomacy, the British govern- 
ment will be governed in her deportment to us by the prospects which 
she may have in Europe. She will not abandon her policy of monop- 
oly, unless perhaps for a temporary resting time, as at the peace of 
Amiens. If there should appear to be a prospect of stirring up another 
war on tho continent, she would again go to war ; or so soon as the 
French should have built a navy equal in number to her own, that 
moment or before it war would be again renewed ; and we should 
experience in a more tense tyranny the encrease of those oppressions 
for which he has established the precedents within a few years. The 
orders of Council and the proclamations of 1807 and 1808 would like 
the rule of 1756 be preached up — as the established law of nations ; and 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 327 

the leisure of a temporary jieace would have quieted down those re- 
sentments which now prevail against her tyranny as those which prevailed 
in the revolution were extinguished by the strange revolution produced 
by the British Treaty. 

It is a very common opinion, that if all the nations of Europe were 
decidedly against England, she would be induced to make peace with 
us. Tliose who conceive such ideas may perhaps know the English 
policy better than I do ; but as I can form no judgment but by my own 
study and observation, by a residence of several years at the theatre 
of which they act ; by a personal acquaintance with many of the most dis- 
tinguished men of the age in that country ; and by habits and pursuits well 
adapted to investigate as well as to acquire a knowledge of their policy. 

If the whole of the nations of Europe should, and I am persuaded 
they must, become hostile to English policy ; I am satisfied by reflection 
that England will not abate her policy towards the U. States, because 
as she exists by commerce only, and as we are in truth the most for- 
midable rival in the commercial world ; it would be her interest to 
interrupt if she could not destroy our prosperity ; her policy would 
lead her to do that on a large scale which she has done on a small ; 
she has encouraged the conflagration of our growing factories and 
would conflagrate our cities and towns; she would not sufl'er our ships 
to go to the continent without paying a transit or tribute duty, she would 
[not] suffer our ships to pursue even our accustomed commerce in time 
of peace : the same policy leads to annihilate our trade altogether ; and it 
is not the want of inclination but of ability that prevents it. 

Two all powerful motives impel the U. States to determine now and 
to satisfy the world of its policy. 1. The national Interests as they 
concern the body of the nation in their individual situation 2 The 
national Interests in their relations with civilized nations. We are now 
called upon to preserve and to maintain both ; and if we lose this time 
we shall never again possess occasions so favourable to our fortunes 
and to the honor of the nation. 

All these objects can be obtained in my opinion without war — by a 
measure founded on the principles of neutrality as they were asserted 
in 1780, accompanied by a declaration of Retaliation, which should go 
to every thing but human life. To exemplify the method in which the 
government might proceed, I will take the liberty of specifying in a 
loose way the particular course and the manner that seems to me best 
to be adopted in prosecuting the measures. 

The outrage on the Chesapeake is in every respect marked by the 
atrocity of the design and the perpetration, by the contumelious carrying 
away several, and hanging of one of the captives ; by the unpunished 
impunity of the authors and perpetrators ; and by the repeated insults 
& refusals of justice which have followed it. 



o2S MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [Mat, 

A law of Congress might authorise re^irisals, either in that ^peoial 
case, or which wouUi be more decisive in ail cases ; the seizure of man 
for man, British subjects for American citizens, and the detention of 
the pei-sons seized as hostages for the security and safe return of the 
persons taken unlawfully from on board any American ship. The 
principle to be extended to ships ; ship for ship, dollar tor dollar ; and 
in failure of ships or merchandize, the retaliating principle to bo ex- 
tended to every other species of British property ; dollar for dollar, 
together with expenses. 

The law of Congress recognizing these principles might be issued 
with a public Declaration of the intentions of the United States, to be 
issued by the Executive ; wherein the injuries sustained might be set 
forth, and the long forbearance exhibited : that even now the Gov' of 
the U States deprecates war & the destruction of the lives of the 
uuoli'onding citizens of any country for the otVonces couiniitiod In their 
rulers; that after repeated efforts had failed to obtain the restoration 
of the citizens of the U States without any other effect than a renewal 
of insult ; the Gov' was now disposed to take another recourse to avoid 
if possible the greater calamities of war, by taking as hostages wherever 
found British subjects in number eijual to the number of persons taken 
from on board the Chesapeake, to the number killed and to the num- 
ber maimed ; and that those hostages should be detained and put to 
emplovments suited to their capacities, and the surplus of whatever 
they might by their industry acquire to be applied to the support of 
the injured or the survivors of those who were killed, maimed or taken 
away from on board the Chesapeake, until such time as the British 
government should restore those now in their custody and remunerate 
as miiiht be agreed upon the survivors of the murdered and injured. 

The proceeding in the initiatory process of such a course of meas- 
ures point themselves out; and I only ofter my conceptions be- 
cause I do not wish to leave the subject incomplete. The minister 
of the U. S. might make a formal demand of the persons at the court 
of Loudon, and signify the indisposition of the U. S. to resort to au 
ancient usage, that of taking hostages ; or this might follow the first 
requisition ; he might in the course of the correspondence signify that 
the United States would in future take hostages and make levies on 
property to the full amount of all illegal captures or detentions made 
l>y our nation ; and might still strongly and strenuously argue upon the 
humanity of such a course in preference to the shedding of the blood 
of the unotYonding. 

I persuade myself that this recourse would have all the important 
effects which 1 set out with assuming as necessary ; and other effects 
eijually important. The people of the U. S. would have reason to be 
proud of another step in national policy towards the avoidance and 
abolition of war ; they would see in the act of taking hostages for the 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 829 

restoration of the captives, a regard to their own security in future ; 
(a regard too little attended to hitherto either in the eye of policy or 
humanity) ; they would find the government humane and yet just ; 
faithful to itself and yet more generous than other nations in sparing 
the blood of the innocent ; with regard to foreign nations, it would make 
every people our friends, because the people of every country are the 
sufferers and the governors alone are those who do not suffer, our ex- 
ample would then be the touchstone of respect, and esteem would even 
take place of hostility in the bosom of the very nation that injured us ; 
while the hostages we should secure would assure us negociators in the 
very bosom of the hostile nation whose cries would be respected where 
our complaints of wrong have only provoked derision ; and become the 
jest of profligate ministers and the topics of their midnight debauches. 

There is one more point of view in which this project of retaliation 
on hostages may be taken. It may be said that it would produce an 
immediate declaration of war on the part of Great Britain. This would 
perhaps depend in the first instance on the mode in which the subject 
should be promulged ; or on incidents over which we have no control. 
I am of opinion that she will yet make war upon us ; and I am persuaded 
as well from the choice of their last Ambassador as well as from the 
correspondence of his style here with his style in Denmark, that he was 
intended as the touchstone by which the measure of our patience was 
to be tried before actual war was resorted to. In this last case then 
war would not be the effect of our measure of benevolent policy, but 
of their intolerable envy and monopoly. 

It would then remain to be enquired whether upon their making 
actual war, that is making war without landing an army or invading our 
territory, the policy of retaliation and hostages would not still be a 
judicious one so long as they should refrain from outrage on our terri- 
tory. Making war upon our ships at sea, our ships might be authorised 
to arm for defence ; and a declaration to this effect might be published. 

Among the good effects of the retaliation by hostages, the country 
would soon be cleared of man)"- detestable characters that are now lurk- 
ing about our cities. Others whose disaffection contributes to sustain 
that hostility to the government so visible in our cities would be re- 
pressed by public opinion or by a sense of danger. The nation once 
roused by a measure so humane and yet decisive would not suffer the 
calumny that has been poured forth with impunity. 

But the most important consideration in my view is the great proba- 
bility that it would produce a great effect, upon public sentiment in 
England and compel the administration to restore all our impressed 
Citizens and to refrain from their capture in future. Should any dec- 
laration be issued in such an event, it seems to me that it would be 
wise to establish the principle as a permanent one, that of taking 

42 



830 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

hostages and sequestrating property in retaliation and declaring that 
such would be the policy of the U. S. at all times in preference to war. 
Such Sir are the ideas that present themselves to me, thrown to- 
gether without reperusal or taking a copy, which my avocations do not 
admit me the leisure to do. I submit it to your liberality, and offer 
it as a testimony of my zeal and good intentions, whatever may be the 
degree of regard to which it is entitled. 

I am Sir your obed Ser 

W" DUANE 

James Madison Esq. Pres' of the U. States 

To Madison, 

Phil^ 5 Deer 1809 

Sir, — I have revolved for some time in my mind the ideas which 
in a crude form I have taken the liberty of addressing to you. I pre- 
sume not to set any higher value on them than liberal intentions and 
an enthusiastic devotion to the principles and durability of Republican 
Government may give them. I neither look for an answer nor do I 
wish for any thing more than the gratification of endeavoring to pro- 
mote what is honorable and glorious to my country. 

If this should be acceptable or not intrusive on your time, I should 
take the liberty of addressing to you my ideas on the institution of a 
national Bank, the basis of which should be public lands, shares repre- 
senting acres to a certain amount ; the acres to be taken at a limitted 
period by the holder and the stock to go to the public ; or the holder of 
stock to have his option of Cash for the share in Bank ; and the land 
to become either the object of purchase at the rate of lands at the mo- 
ment, or to become the representative of new shares ; the objects of the 
plan, would be — 1 To unite all the Eastern Bank holders by the tie 
of property in Southern lands; to make the reduction of Interest to 
5 per Cent a part of the establishment, and by combining the shares 
in Bank with property in land to cut off the pestilential intluence which 
foreign stock and bank jobbers have on all our national concerns. In 
fact I have suggested the outline already ; to a mind like Mr. Gallatin's 
such a plan would at once present itself in a manner that would give 
it form and efficacy, and I persuade myself that the useful objects which 
I have suggested would naturally grow out of it — Objects which I need 
not describe the vast importance of. I wish however not to be known 
as suggesting the subject, because such a matter should stand upon its 
own foundations without prejudice or partiality to its author — circum- 
stances which too often interfere with human interests & happiness. 

Excuse this trouble and permit me to subscribe myself your friend & 
respectful hunb S' 

W DuANE 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 331 

To Madison. 

Phtla Dec 8, 1809 

Sir, — I took the liberty of placing before you some few ideas on 
the subject of an application of the principle of a security in land for 
an investment of cash in Bank Stock at a reduced interest. It has 
since occurred to me, that as the impost may probably fall short of the 
sum requisite for exigency, that a resort to an investiture of land to 
cover a public loan would not only enable the administration to raise 
an immense sum, but to defeat at a stroke the clamour which the 
enemies of the government would not fail to raise in the event of any 
necessity for a money loan. 

It appears to me that the occasion should now be used to raise a very 
large sum in that way, so that if the nation should be involved in war 
there may be a provision for its calls in advance; for I very much fear 
there has not been as full a consideration of the necessary amount [of] 
expenditures as would seem to be necessary among the members of that 
part of the government who hold the purse; and that the want of a 
due knowledge of what ought to be done would cripple the executive 
to a degree more pernicious than the efforts of an enemy. 

My conception of the method of raising a supply I shall take the 
liberty of stating, merely to explain what I suggest, & not presuming 
to decide upon its being very excellent much less infallible, but barely 
giving it as a suggestion which in abler hands may be made something of. 

I would raise a sum equal to three or four years of the usual revenue 
of the United States. This besides being provident in fact, would be a 
valuable measure on the surface of affairs, indicating the determination 
to be prepared in earnest for defence. 

For every million of dollars to be raised, I would suggest the appro- 
priation of half a million of acres of public lands ; the lands to be sur- 
veyed in the course of the year ensuing and in ranges after the plan of 
the Ohio Military lands. The tracts surveyed should be in more than 
ten or 20000 acres in any section or territory ; or each of these tracts 
should be at least 50 miles apart ; and there might be some limit to the 
right of purchase for any one person of more than a certain number of 
acres. 

It would not be difficult, from an investigation of the sales of public 
lands for some years past, and other means, to ascertain the progressive 
rise in various lands before and after survey and sale. 

The loan upon lands might be made in such a way as — first to 
obtain the money at a very low interest. 

Secondly — that an option to retain the lands or receive a [blank] per 
cent stock at the end of six years, or one year after a war ; redeemable 
in [blank] years. 



332 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [IMay, 

Thirdly the loan when raised to be placed in public funds, so as that 
what should be over the public demand might be made productive in 
either reducing part of the old public debt ; or in constructing some 
great roads or canals to facilitate intercourse and promote public 
prosperity. 

As the ideas of the principle are all that are necessary, details being 
superfluous if the principles are not practicable, I think it unnecessary 
to intrude further upon your time. 

I do not look for any answer, if the thouglits are of any use that is 
all I look for — if not, I am not willing to trespass on you for the mere 
ceremony of a note when I know the paper must reach you. I am. Sir, 
with respect 

Your obed Ser* 

W" DUANB 

To Dearborn. 

Phila. Jan. 21. 1810 

Dear and esteemed Friend, — I had the pleasure of receiving 
jours of the loth instant this day only. You surprize me very much 
by informing me that the little controversy in the Essex Register has 
proceeded from your son ; you know the zeal that I have pursued 
military studies with, and the apprehensions which I feel lest we 
should be lulled into a fatal confidence. The world is not now as it was 
in 1775. The British had not been military men since the days of 
Marlborough, with him and Lord Peterborough the British saw the 
last of their generals ; for Wolf and the Marquis of Granby, derived 
their reputation from causes not at all arising out of personal talent. 
Our system before Steuben's introduction of the modified Prussian was 
bad; and yet perhaps you may remember that there were great clamours 
and some resignations upon the introduction of Steuben ; the British 
General Williamson endeavoured to establish a good discipline in 
the British army, but the courtiers were jealous of him, and Gen. Sir 
William Howe who followed AYilliamson, was only an imitator, with- 
out the genius of Williamson whose principles were sound and corre- 
spond very much with modern tactics ; but they were never adopted 
through envy and jealousy of the man who had talents. The revolu- 
tion found us and the British found themselves in this discord on a 
subject which above all others requires simplicity and unity of princi- 
ples ; every British regiment was differently organized, and when any 
two met, they were incapable of being exercised together ; they did not 
understand each others words of command or mode of evolution. Wolf, 
Bland, Haldimand, all had different systems, and every colonel had one 
different from them ; this gave the raw troops of Massachusetts a great 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 333 

advantage; and a want of a correct discipline in the British was as much 
in our favor as any other circumstance. 

The example of Prussia in the seven years war, and of France in 
the present day, demonstrates the force and importance of discipline ; 
and the disadvantage and misfortune of a want of it; my efforts for 
several years have been directed to dissipate erroneous ideas and 
establish correct opinions on those subjects ; but I find a mass of pre- 
judice as well as some jealousy ; I content myself in combatting the 
prejudices because jealousy is rather a compliment- 
When the article appeared in the Essex Register, I thought it was a 
good occasion to draw public attention particularly in Massachusetts 
to correct ideas, and I wished for nothing more than the controversy 
sliould be kept up amicably, in order to exemplify what is the fact, 
that the modern discipline is much more simple in its principles, and 
more agreeable and interesting to those who once get into the spirit of 
it than the old ; it is easier learned, easier taught, and easier practised ; 
and I was anxious that where the materials are so good, and the dis- 
position to do right so evident, it would be useful to address their minds 
in bold expressions conveying strict and indisputable truth, but yet so 
as to awaken both pride and reflection. Tliis I hope will produce a 
spirit of enquiry, and where that takes place the approach to truth is 
certain. I hope nothing that I have said has given your worthy son pain 
or disquiet, nothing could be more remote from my wishes. If he looks 
at my purpose and the effects which I wished to produce he will excuse 
me now, and perhaps reflect with pleasure on the incident that may 
have awakened his mind to enquiry : Offer him my respected friend, 
ray most affectionate wishes and if he is disposed to open a private 
correspondence and put any questions to me, if I can answer I will; if 
I cannot with confidence I will certainly tell him so. 

I have written so much to you at once that I must tire you. I cannot 
therefore talk to you of politicks or anything else, but shall write you 
again in a few days. 

Give my most respectful and affectionate wishes to Mrs. Dearborne, 
and be so good as to mention me to Mr. & Mrs. Wingate when you 
write them next. 

Ever affectionately yours 

W^' DuANE 

To Madison. 

Phil'^ April 16, 1810 

Str, — My Son W"" J. Duane will have the honor to present you 
this note, going to Washington on a matter of business his own wishes 
and my desire would not suffer me to scruple taking this liberty of 
making him known to you. 



334 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

He goes to Washington with the View of prosecuting an undertaking 
which I formerly contemplated, the publication of an edition of the laws 
of the U. S. upon a plan which I had the honor, once personidly and 
once by letter, to present to your attention. Any support which the 
undertaking may be entitled to, which you may consider yourself fairly 
authorised to bestow is all he seeks, and which given to him will be 
most grateful to. Sir, 

Your most obed and respectful Ser' 

W" DUANE 

James Madison Esq' Presd' of U States 

To Dearhom. 

Phila. July 3, 1810 

My dear Sir, — I have this moment received yours of the 29th 
June, for the frankness, kindness, and confidence which it displays, I 
should be ver}' cold of heart if I were not sensible. You do justice to 
my intentions and wishes, and altlio' I do not agree with you as to the 
particular man of Pennsylvania whose conduct I consider as a primary 
cause of our present difficulties, I differ from you on nothing else. In 
my humble sphere as long as I have been capable of thinking I have 
decided for myself independent of all human control; and it is necessary 
for me to state and to shew this to you because you appear to think 
that my sentiments concerning Mr. Gallatin are produced either by the 
influence of Mr. Smith, or that Dr. Leib by some supposed association 
with the Smiths influences me. 

Impressions of this kind have been urged to me from other quarters 
and either there must have been a very uncommon concurrence in a 
mistake, or the impression has been made from one point upon many. 

You know very well how very different my real character is from 
that artificial character which the enmity of the federalists have set 
up for me, and put off as mine. Let me assure you that in the present 
instance I am as much misrepresented. From the Baltimore gentle- 
men, I never received any favors, whatever there has been between 
them and me has partaken more of injury to me (as far as it could go) 
than favor. I have never corresponded with either of them : and if it 
so happens that they think as I think on public affairs, a circumstance 
of which I am no otherwise informed than by general rumor, and upon 
which I was not satisfied till I received yours ; for in fact I never had 
the good fortune to be fiivored with any communications from the Seat 
of Government, and have therefore been obliged at all times to depend 
on the resources of my own experience and judgment; very fortunately 
these resources have seldom failed me, and by pursuing the two simple 
rules of common sense and plain truth, I have been able to discharge 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 335 

my little ministry of the press with as much cause for self gratification 
as any of my cotemporaries. With the Baltimore gentlemen therefore 
I have neither intimacy nor correspondence, I seek none with them, 
and if I am not very much deceived they respect more than they love 
me. I shall never be on any other terms with them. So much for 
that point. On the other point, that of Dr. Leib; he and I have agreed 
and disagreed in politics now fourteen years without the one having ever 
changed the opinions of the other ; we have concurred in fundamental 
principles, and in pursuit of measures of policy we have seldom differed ; 
but we have seriously differed about men, many times, & act as distinctly 
upon each his own judgment as any two men of opposite politics. We 
have been linked together by those who could not bring either to be the 
instrument in destroying the other. Mr. Gallatin is one of those who 
made the formal overture to me at his own office in Washington to 
abandon Leib, or I should be destroyed politically myself; he is not 
the only one who made similar propositions. But the impression made 
upon my mind was not that of personal danger to myself but the infamy 
of the proposers. I never made Leib acquainted with the fact, tho' I 
stated it to Mr. Clay & to my Son ; but the very overture strengthened 
my esteem for Leib, because seeing his policy and principles naked at 
all times, I could not conceive how any man with honest views could 
imagine so foul a purpose, or imagine me capable of being a vile instru- 
ment in it. I am as independent of Leib, and no man knows it better 
than himself, as I am of the Smiths or of Gallatin, and I shall always 
remain so. As to his becoming a favorite with either I suspect not 
without grounds that you are not well informed ; I know Leib's opinions 
on the views and conduct of the parties generally and individually ; I 
know what their deportment was towards Dr. Leib when he was in 
Congress, and it can scarcely be supposed that he can forget it. He 
has dined once or twice with one of them, but this as a Senator could 
not involve any partiality ; it was to Dr. L. no doubt acceptable that 
those who privately calumniated him six years ago should thus expiate 
their injustice by publicly caressing him. If they were sincere before, 
they must be inconsistent now, if they were hypocrites before they can- 
not be sincere now. Leib is not a man of dull capacity, he sees and 
decides as soon as any man I know. 

You see my dear Sir that I return your frankness in kind by shew- 
ing you the real state of my own mind and that of Dr. Leib. 

As to the circumstances which govern my publications in which Mr. 
Gallatin comes under notice, the publications themselves explain by 
the facts the motives which actuate me ; it is not liking nor dislike ; 
if personal considerations could at any time govern my political discus- 
sions I have nothing of the kind to bias me in relation to the one or 
the other. Superior motives actuate me, and whether the malice of 



336 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

party or the malignity of those who deem me above serluction, such as 
John Randolph, depreciate or condemn my principles of action, I feel 
in my heart the healthy consolement of an upright pursuit of what my 
conscience and stedfast judgment determines to be for the best interests 
of my country. If personal motives or a sense of personal injury could 
prevail over my principles of conduct, your successor in the War De- 
partment has put me to the test. But I know myself to be superior 
to every species of meanness. 

My opinion deliberately made up is, that Mr. Gallatin has been a 
principal operator of our present unhappy situation. I believe him not 
only to be a dangerous politician but unfaithful to his public trust. This 
is my honest opinion, and I appeal to the single fact of his revealing to 
John Randolph the confidential subjects of discussion between President 
Jefferson and his ministers is not enough of itself to cut up all confi- 
dence in the man for ever. I know the particulars of that subject in the 
most direct way, and am therefore not liable to be imposed upon by 
external impressions ; I know that we might now have Florida were 
it not for him ; and I have some reason to think that it was land specu- 
lation not a respect for the appropriation section of the Constitution 
which actuated him. 

If any thing more were wanting, look to the correspondence of Mr. 
Erskine laid before the British parliament, look at his scandalous con- 
duct there, are you aware that he said to Mr. Erskine that he Mr. G. 
had been years employed in efforts to wean Mr. Jefferson from his French 
attachments ; this has not been published to be sure but look at John 
Randolph's speeches, see Mr. Gallatin in constant secret intimacy with 
him ; see Macon as the dupe and the link that connects Gallatin and 
Randolph, see the Bills called Macon's No. 1 & 2. Mr. Findley, who 
overcame his former enmities sufficiently to write me, assured me that 
" Mr. Gallatin had the best motives in drafting those Bills! " & " that it 
was not to he inferred that he approi'ed of them because he drafted them." 
Why sir this is the consummation of political fraud ; the utmost pains 
were taken to disseminate an opinion that Mr. Madison was the author 
of those Bills, and I know the men to whom he held two different 
opinions personally on the subject. Honesty, my dear sir, is the best 
of policy ; and a dishonest politician cannot be an honest man. 

I am opposed for the same reasons to every idea of playing off one 
minister against another. I would do in such a case as I would do with 
a domestic, fidelity to trust and pursuit of my best interests and wishes 
would be my criterions of confidence; if one of two deviated from these 
obligations I would dismiss him ; I do not admire the principle upon 
which Stanley Griswold was dismissed in Michigan, any more than the 
sacrifice of Wilkinson to appease the friends of a traitor, a government 
cannot endure which suffers such practices to supercede moral and 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 337 

political justice. If I would adopt any iutermediate expedient, it would 
be to dismiss both ; for such is the unhappy frailty of human nature, that 
unless tliere is some decided mind to check the collisions of two men 
everything must go to disorder ; such as Mr. Gallatin inflated by the 
reputation which he has obtained (and it is many degrees above his 
natural mark !) and by the vast landed wealth which his situation has 
enabled him to amass ; and Mr. Smith vain by habit and by the weighty 
influence which his connexions and wealth give him, I say it will be 
impossible tliat the measures of policy devised by the President, if they 
were the most wise that wisdom could suggest, can escape collision be- 
tween such conflicting passions. Washington has in fact become a 
theatre of intrigue ; it resembles the frippery and frivolity of a mon- 
archical court rather than the capital of a republic; and what is very 
extraordinary, that man who like Sixtus V. before he was a cardinal 
and after he was a cardinal assumed a simplicity and modesty and disin- 
terestedness both in the sleekness of his tonsure and the homely texture of 
his garments ; whose table rivalled the primitive pastors of the church in 
scanty viands ; and whose threshold was never trodden by the foot of 
revelry or satiety ; — marvellous it is, Mr. Gallatin is a courtier, acts 
the petit maitre with as much vivace as if he had meant to enter into a 
competition with the Secretary of State. A droll fellow who drove the 
stage coach from Washington towards Baltimore uttered an anecdote one 
night which as it serves to illustrate the alteration I shall note tho' it is 
perhaps a little too severe and illnatured, tho' certainly characteristic ; a 
traveller sitting along side me, asked the driver " who lives in that house?" 
— " Lives ! " said the driver, " Lives ! why nobody lives there," " There' s 
light in the house " said the traveller — " O yes, the Secretary of the 
treasury and his family breathe tliere," said the Driver. This no doubt 
is caricature ; but caricature is often very like the original. The 
Driver could not now make so good a joke, for not only the Secretary 
lives but he feasts sumptuously every day, and what is more invites 
large companies to dine with him. I do not except to a man for living 
well, the quantity or quality of his food is nothing to me more than the 
form of his nose or his chin. I only notice these particulars, as illus- 
trative of the state of things. Your good lady, to whom tender my 
most respectful and affectionate wishes, will 1 am sure agree with me 
that a change so extraordinary cannot be merely accidental and without 
motive. 

I could say a great deal more on these subjects ; but I apprehend 
I have already tired you. I have, however, done justice to your con- 
fidence and to my own motives. 

In fine, my dear Sir, I shall maintain as I have done all along my 
personal independence in public discussions. My own opinion is that 
the Republican party must go to destruction if Mr. Gallatin continues, 

43 



338 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

and that Mr. Madison will be thrown out at the next election ; this I 
do not consider of so much moment on Mr. Madison's account or on 
that of the Public interests and the principles of the Government. When 
you first came to "Washington those gentlemen belonged to a little cabal, 
which aimed to influence all public affairs in their own favor. I have 
had the proffered friendship and the subsequent enmity of them all in 
succession ; this party had a sort of beginning when you were first 
in Congress in this city, I believe in 1796. It was composed of an 
interest in four States — N. York, Penna. Maryland and Virginia. 
Ed. Livingston & A. Burr were the Yorkers — Gallatin and Dallas 
were the Pennsylvanians. The Smiths of Maryland and the Nicholases 
of Virginia. 

This little cabal has been curiously consorted — office and power and 
wealth was the aim of every man of them, I need not tell you how they 
have succeeded, & how they are now in conflict, I tell you more,- it 
would not surprize me much to see the fragments reunited — and some 
one sacrificed to appease the manes of their pre-existing enmities. 

In this State so important a member of the Union, Gallatin acts the 
part of the demon of whom we read in Romances ; his influence cannot 
extend to any thing but mischief, and when I tell you that the Re- 
publican Legion is broken up so as to have not more than three com- 
panies in fact, and this thro' the agency of that influence, I need not say 
more ; because it marks the character by the tendency of the intrigues. 
I would not wound you by telling you particular instances in which the 
best of men and republicans in all times are persecuted through this 
cabalistical influence. Accept my dear Sir my most grateful & 
affectionate respects. 
^ Wm. Ddane 

To Jefferson.^ 

Phil^ July 16, 1810 

D**. AND Respected Sir, — A desire to be preserved in your re- 
membrance has often led me to the verge of writing to you, but know- 
ing with what anxiety you retired from political concerns and the disgust 
you must naturally have felt at the recollection of the baseness you 
have seen and the unworthiness which prevails too much in all kinds 
of affairs, I preferred rather to trust to the ordinary incidents of my 
situation to retain me in your mind than to give you any trouble by 
direct letter. I need utter no expressions of my affection and attach- 
ment to you, it is not to flatter or to seek favor I ever approached 
you even in power ; out of power, my attachment has not abated be- 
cause you have no favor to bestow ; and it is with pain that I now in- 
trude upon your retired life with the enclosed paper, which is taken 

1 Jeff. MSB. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 339 

from a pamphlet published on the motion of Earl Grey by the house of 
Lords. There is a letter now in this city from Cobbet referring to this 
correspondence which has made some matter for discourse, and which 
has led me to seek the pamphlet. I presume it will be generally circu- 
lated here, as I understand it has been already on the continent of Europe, 

What the impression will be on the feelings and interests of the 
Virtuous part of the nation, it is not difficult to conceive ; but what the 
impression may be on the wicked, or rather the use which they make 
of it upon the weak, is not so easy to guess. I very much fear the 
effect of any man's influence, who could be capable of such villainous 
disregard of your name and reputation, and the sentiment I believe will 
be very general, whenever it comes before the public. 

For myself, the emotions which this letter has excited are not very 
easily described ; if the same feelings operate upon all those who revere 
you for your virtues and services ; what is to become of the adminis- 
tration, and what is of more importance the principles which elevated 
the administration to trust, and by which alone the country can remain 
free and happy. 

I very much fear that the course of politics indicated by this letter 
and other transactions of late date, will tend to involve our country 
in great calamities ; which, had your policy been faithfully pursued 
and maintained, we would have been assured against with all the world 
at our side. I cannot suffer myself to intrude more upon you, if I were 
satisfied that my writing to you would [not ?] interfere with your wishes 
to keep aloof from political vexations, I should certainly write you very 
largely on the subject of public affairs, which I very much fear are now 
in an unhappy train. 

I do not wish to obtain any opinions or answers of any kind for any 
use, but the gratification of my own feelings towards you and to know 
that I am not forgotten by you. At a future day I shall take the liberty 
of assigning to you my motive for relinquishing the honorable station 
in the array which your confidence and kindness placed me in ; I can 
say that as far as I had authority and command, no man of the same 
rank performed so much duty nor endeavoured more to serve the public ; 
this I think it fit to say to you, and I believe I have never forfeited 
my veracity with you. For your confidence and kindness to me be 
assured of my grateful remembrance, and as ever of the most ardent 
desire to render myself worthy of your continued Esteem, Ever 
dearest and respected Sir, your obed^ Serv'. 

To Jefferson. 

Phil^ Aug. 17. 1810. 
P^ & Respected Sir, — I have had the satisfaction to receive your 
very kind letter of the 12 instant. It is singular enough that I should 



340 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

have before me at the moment, a history of England in 4to, which I 
take to be the same which you mention. Several years ago you men- 
tioned the same book to me, and through Mr. G. Erviug then in 
London I obtained the book before me. Having just completed my 
Military Dictionary this day, I was turning over in my mind what book 
to put in hand; and I took this to look at it and give it a perusal in the 
intervals of my ordinary occupations. The book before me makes 
exactly 834 pages, and down to 1801. The last paragraph begins 
thus — "The master of his majesty's hunt prepared, &c.," the 55P' 
page closes with The Bill of Rights and 552 begins Eara IV cap. 1. 
with William and Mary. I am thus particular, that you may be able 
to determine whether it is the same work or not ; as it is my fixed 
purpose to print it. 

The other work which you are so good as to mention, if sent on, I 
can have put into hand immediately ; there is no difficulty in obtaining 
good translators here at present, and I will accept it with great satis- 
faction, and send you the proofs as you propose. I contemplated writ- 
ing to you frequently, but having heard of your desire to be retired, 
and it was reported that you even wished to remove to another part of 
Virginia, I concluded upon denying myself the grateful feelings which 
writing to or thinking of your generous and unabating friendship always 
produces rather thau be one among the intruders upon your tranquillity. 
The paper I sent you and the perilous character of the times overcame 
my scruples. I shall not say anything to you on political affairs, for 
the same reasons that I have not before written you ; and pursuing the 
same principles and preserving under a more prosperous state of my 
personal affairs that independence which I maintained when in circum- 
stances heavily embarrassed ; I shall with the best capacity and the 
most steadfast purpose in my humble province do every thing in my 
power for the good of my country. If I mistake, as on some occasions 
I have done, it will be only to discover the error and I shall not be too 
proud nor so dishonest as not to correct it. 

You may remember that I once proposed printing your Notes. I 
hold myself bound by that promise, and am now ready for it. If the 
Book (Baxter's Hume) be the same that I have got, I shall be able to 
put it to press very soon ; paper must be had in advance, and that 
requires at least two months preparation. 

The work from the French, I would go on with instantly having 
now only an Edition of Lind on Warm Climates, at press, to fill up the 
intervals of my Military Dictionary, which last being finished leaves 
me at liberty to go on with another. You have seen I make no doubt 
David Williams Lectures upon Montesquieu, from whom indeed I first 
learned to think of Montesquieu, as your commentator seems to think. 

There is another circumstance upon which I meant to write you on 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 3-1:1 

some day. It was mentioned to me, that on your passage through this 
city several years ago, Dr. Franklin put into your hands a matuiscript, 
intreating you to keep it, and as the fittest person to trust it to ; that 
you returned it, and it was put into your hands again ; but that on the 
death of that great man, you conceived yourself bound to put the manu- 
script in the hands of Mr. Temple Franklin as his grandfather's 
Legatee; and thus it is lost to the world, unless a copy of it was pre- 
served by you for posterity ; it was suggested to me that this was the 
case ; from what I learn of Mr. T. F's course in Paris, there appears 
to me no hope of the most valuable part of the Doctor's writings ever 
appearing ; and it would be at least useful, if no copy exists, to be 
certain that this anecdote is truly stated. I have obtained from the 
venerable Cha' Thomson, the Journals of Dr. F. Mr. Adams and Mr. 
Jay ; but Mr. Adams's late publications show how scanty his officially 
registered journal was. I was promised some more but although 1 have 
kept the Edition back now 18 months, with 4 volumes already printed 
ready for delivery, under [expectation] of gaining more materials for the 
biography, I have been disappointed. Perhaps you may possess frag- 
ments concerning him, epistolary or otherwise, that at a favorable 
moment you might oblige me with. I should have paid you my 
respects personally long since had I not determined to consider your 
resolutions in preference to my own wishes. 

I understood you intimated to some friend that there was antimony 
some where in your neighborhood, and that Mr. Tho^ M. Randolph had 
also mentioned it. Independent of my solicitude to see the art of type 
founding flourish ; I have thought of making a type founder of Benj. F. 
Bache's second son — who we here call from his remarkable likeness to 
his Gr father — little Dr. Franklin; the boy has all the acuteness and 
expansion of mind of the original ; I have not been indiflPerent to keep 
the spark within him alive to all that is good and I derive unutterable 
delight to see the little flock mingled with my own rising above adver- 
sity and expelling the clouds with which the Aurora was surrounded 
when we met. The eldest son of Benjamin who has finished with 
eclat, distinguished above his compeers, the collegiate education which 
is acquired in our miserable university, is a fine young man and as 
virtuous as any in the country; he is already as tall as his father, pos- 
sesses all his sedateness and virtue. I believe him as innocent of every 
kind of vice as a child of four years old. I am yet undetermined what 
course to put [him] into, he is at present going through a course of 
historical reading, in which I have been his pilot, and geographer, and 
annotator. The other two boys of Benj. are equally promising. 

The Pestalozzi system proceeds with effect that will render it indis- 
tructible and get it but once into general use — there is an end to error. 
Mr. Neef who conducts it seems as if there had been some particular 



342 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY [May, 

providence to prepare him for an undertaking so immensely important 
and requiring so many qualities of head and heart to fit him for it. 
I have a little fellow of 5t^- years old with him, who already confounds 
me. I apprehend that very little is known of this inappreciable system 
and man. His book certainly gives a faithful outline ; but it is a feeble 
shade compared with the actual figure. If you could be amused with 
any account of it from me, it will afford me delight to give you some 
account of it as I see it, but I do not wish to trouble you with it, nor 
would I take the trouble unless I was sure it would be gratifying to 
you. 

Do me the favor to assure Mr. & Mrs. M. Randolph of my most 
sincere respects. 

I am Dr Sir ever affecty yours. 

To Jefferson.^ 

Phil* Oct. 29tb 1810. 

Respkcted Sir, — I have just received the returned parcel of 
Manuscript. My motive for sending now the translation in the first 
instance was that you might judge and if you had leisure correct to your 
mind. My intention is to send you on the manuscript as fast as trans- 
lated and I can transcribe it ; I am not perfectly satisfied myself with 
the manner of the translation ; it is very diflScult unless to a person 
equally conversant in both languages ; there are some passages very 
difficult. I fear that on this account it will be to you more troublesome 
than I could wish it to be ; the translation is generally too dry and 
frigid for the original ; and the whys and wherefores and moreovers 
are too frequent for the English idiom. The work the more I peruse 
[it] the more I am gratified and impressed with its importance, and feel 
a solicitude to see it before the public. The journeymen printers hav- 
ing what they call struck for wages, I have no book printing now going 
on, nor can I have until they return, or I teach boys the lighter parts 
of the printing art; I mention this in order to shew that it is not 
through affectation or false delicacy I mention, that should it be suita- 
ble to you to pass over the whole, that I shall continue to send it as 
fast as I can transcribe it. 

I sent you along with the packet David Williams lectures on Mon- 
tesquieu, they are not equal to the ideas and lucid illustrations, nor to 
the genius that marks the Review of Montesquieu ; but they were bold 
in E)ngland ; I have a duplicate of it, and intend the copy sent as a 
small mark of my wish to contribute even in the slightest degree to 
your rational gratification. I have a copy of his pamphlet on liberty 
also, which tho' good in its day, and very good in a few pages, is not 
worth troubling you with. 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



1006.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 343 

"We have a number of persons lately arrived from different parts of 
the British dominions here, whose accounts exhibit pictures not merely 
deplorable but horrible — the crisis of that Government is certainly at 
hand, and it must be for the benefit of mankind. 

Some of the Russian under agents here appear in discourse very 
remarkably attached to G. B, and his policy. I refer to one particu- 
larly and that is Mr. Politika, a young man who really imagines he 
knows every thing in and about this country as well as if he had spent 
his life here. I only mention this fact, because from a correspondence 
you were once so good as to mention, I infer it may be kept up, and it 
may not be amiss to understand from a sure source the dispositions of 
agents. The conduct of Dashkoff appears uncommonly discreet and 
sensible. I know them both. Politika's temper I discovered in a 
conversation on Walsh's pamphlet, which requires to be answered. 
I am D' Sir with affection and respect. 

To Jefferson.^ 

Phil* Jan. 25, 1811 

D'' ANT) Respected Sir, — I have just received yours of the IS"' 
and the copy accompanying it. You will be good enough never to 
attribute my not writing immediately to want of respect or to indif- 
ference. My avocations are so many and the pressure of them so con- 
stant, that it requires some dexterity to get thro' them. I shall now 
explain the hastiness of the last sheets. You will perceive they are all 
transcribed by myself. The person who began has translated the 
whole_, but it was not well done tho' he is capable. I am not perfectly 
competent to translate it myself, tho' I can very well judge both of the 
French and English whether it is well done. I therefore made the 
work a practical essay for myself, as well to enjoy the gratification it 
afforded me as to make my knowledge of the French better, and thus 
I have not merely transcribed, but I have as it were inade the version 
throughout. Thus much will explain why I did not send the French 
original, and why I shall with your leave keep it to refer to, till the 
work is printed, which will be now very soon. It will be necessai-y, 
and since you approve of the manner, I shall be able with more confi- 
dence to remedy the defects of the latter part, of which I was conscious, 
but being anxious to hurry the whole on to you, and having no assistant 
of any kind to write or aid me in my paper at this critical time, and 
the foreman in the Aurora office who by knowing my mind was able to 
decypher all I wrote however hurried, and besides saved me the read- 
ing of proofs, of which T feel the labor as much as the celebrated Bayhy 
I have hurried the whole on depending too much on the translator, or 
rather not having time sufficient to chasten and arrange the language. 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



344 - MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

I bespoke 5 months since from Binny and Ronaldson a fount of types 
to print the work elegantly — they have not yet put them in. These 
men are among the instances of fortunes caprices, they have acquired 
fortune by industry, and it has ruined them as men. I never knew men 
more estimable for simplicity and probity — they are now the reverse. 
I have applied to Mr. Carr, the best printer in this city, to undertake 
the printing for me of this work, for I was fool enough to empty all 
my half worn types into a heap and send them to B. & Ronaldson 
when type metal was scarce, and now I have no type of the size to 
print it upon — so that necessity on one hand and a desire to push the 
work out soon, has induced me to do this ; I have not had his answer 
yet; but I shall if he cannot get it done by some one else. 

I am thus prolix in order that nothing may be unexplained. 

I shall go through the copy as it goes to the printer with the original 
in my hands and shall correct before I deliver it — and shall take care 
of the latter sheets. 

I have published one of the Chapters on money which has excited 
attention, tho' it was from a very indifferent translation. 

I have not been successful in my enquiries for the letter of Helvetius, 
or the Work of the Abbe de la Rochon, nor unless there should be 
some of the literary Frenchmen in N. York do I expect to succeed. 

Poor Warden is gone on to Washington in great tribulation — the 
intriguing there is afllicting to hear of. I sometimes begin to despair 
of the republic when I see so much villainy successful and so much 
virtue repressed and put down. 

J. Randolph is at his old fi-eaks. He took his seat the 22, and intro- 
duced two pointers with him, which set up a barking when the members 
rose to speak. No one dared to turn the dogs out. The house ad- 
journed ; poor Willis Alston going out the dogs got between his legs, 
and had nearly thrown him down ; he struck the dogs, and John Ran- 
dolph who had a hickory stick beat Alston several times over the head 
and shoulders. Alston rushed upon him and some blows took place — 
but the members separated them. 

I do not like to trouble you with politics, but I cannot resist guarding 
you against impressions concerning me. Mr. G. W. Erving passing 
thro' here told me that it was believed in Washington that some of 
your nearest friends were persuaded that I had entered into some 
arrangements with Gen. Armstrong to promote him to the Presidency. 
You have seen and known me in times of peril and how little influence 
personal or pecuniary considerations have had on me ; I have not the 
same confidence because I was neither as well known nor had the same 
opportunities of being known as when you were at Washington. I 
think it fit to say to you whose esteem I covet and value more than any 
other that I ever possessed — that there is no foundation for such an 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 345 

idea. I have no personal views, and should the Bank be chartered, I 
may close my business here. I mean in that event to dispose of the 
Aurora to any capable person who will purchase it of the same princi- 
ples, and abandon a situation which is productive of many enmities, few 
friendships, and no adequate rewards ; while I continue in the station 
no man on earth could induce me to say or do what I think wrong, 
and I know no rule of action but that which to the best of my judgment 
conduces to the liberty, independence, and honor of my country. If I 
ever take a wrong step it will not be with consciousness that I do so, 
and few men in so trying a situation could steer thro' so difficult a 
station with so few blunders, and those few of so little moment. You 
will see, my dear good sir, my motives in expressing my feelings to 
you concerning myself. Ever affectionately and faithfully yours. 

That man Granger, disappointed of being nominated as a Judge — and 
he is better adapted for the ulterior office of Executive Justice — menaces 
to blow up the administration of Mr. Madison, and he has some of his 
schemes now in motion for that effect. I have no correspondence with 
any member of administration — not even Rodney — but you know I 
would not say this without foundation. 

To Jefferson.^ 

Phil^ March 15, ISIL 

Respected Sir, — I have just received the last packet of the 
Manuscript, but it appears as if I was doomed to be the sport and the 
victim of my faithful adherence to those principles which that work so 
admirably illustrates. I should not invade your merited repose and 
happiness, with any complaints of mine, were it not necessary to account 
to you for the suspension of the work even after it had been begun. I 
have passed thro' the most laborious and intense application that I have 
experienced in any period of my [life], having literally devoted myself 
to what I conceived the sacred interests and rights of my country. The 
printers all refusing to work, my foreman laid up since November with 
a debilitating rheumatism, and with none but raw boys to compose and 
print a paper containing more matter and more manuscript matter than 
any paper in the country — and not only to write all, unassisted by a 
single individual, but to go through the drudgery of proofreading. My 
labor was rewarded by the cessation of the Bank and by a consciousness 
that my humble efforts had contrib«ted something to that effect. 

I was looking forward to an active spring and summer, to the com- 
pletion of the life of Franklin, which I flattered myself would do me 
no discredit, and be not unworthy of the subject. But I had offended by 

1 Jeff. MSS. 
41 



846 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

the sincerity aud the severity of my animadversions upon the conduct 
of Mr. John Randolph, aud I am brought to the verge of a precipice, 
from which it is not possible to say whether I shall escape bsiug dashed 
to pieces. I have formerly mentioned to you the cruel consequences which 
ensued from my making the establishment at Washington, and the cruel 
persecution set on foot by J. G. Jackson and Mat. L^'on, which left me 
with an establishment that cost 22000 $ all a debt incurred and unpaid, 
when at the moment that promised to be profitable, the cruel infidelity 
of the Republicans to a faithful centinel left it next to useless, and 
compelled me to abandon it to another for a sum not one third of what 
it cost me. 

As my Credit was derived from Banks, I was obliged to have in- 
dorsers, and 1 have during these ten years been in the situation of 
a man who in a small company saw himself exposed to the vollies of 
a numerous enemy, aud the little band either sinking one by one into 
the slumber of death or flying into the arms of the enemy and turn- 
ing their weapons upon me, until at length I find myself without ever 
once abandoning a principle or betraying any confidence ever reposed 
in me, standing almost alone. 

The friendship which subsisted between Mr. Joseph Clay and myself 
you cannot have been at least a stranger to. The sentiments entertained 
by Mr. Thomas Leiper, you well know concerning me. I am the same 
in every respect, but they are no longer my friends — in short they 
menace me at this moment with ruin. 

When Mr. Clay could not obtain credit for 100 dollars at any Bank 
here, my credit and name obtained for him from five to eight thousand 
dollars. Since his father's death he has released me from this share of 
burden, but he had as men fell off from the republican ranks stept into 
their shoes until he became my endorser for 5000 $, part of the debt 
incurred at Washington and for which I have been paying interest ever 
since. Mr. Leiper in the same way became my indorser for 3000 $. 

The various attempts of the U. S. Bank to ruin me have all failed as 
I took care never to have any account with them. From the other 
banks I could have had and was invited to take but did not take 
10,000 $ more than I had ever required. The following events have 
taken place within four days. 

I applied for about 1000 $ out of about 15000 that had been due to 
me at the Treasury Comptroller's department for some years. The Con- 
troller was prepared to pay, but the Secretary of the Treasury made 
application at all the other offices to know if I had any unsettled accounts. 
Simmons the War office accountant reported that I had an unsettled ac- 
count, but I never had any account with him nor in his branch of public 
duty. I had raised a number of recruits here for which I drew 1700 $ and 
expended 1676 $ for which 1 furnished the vouchers — leaving on that 



1906.] LETTERS OF \yiLLTAM DUANE. 347 

account a balance of 24 $. But long before that I had caused 100 $ 
to be deposited with the Paymaster Mr. Brent, who reported to the 
Controller that there was not any likelihood of my owing any thing ; 
In fact I left two months pay undrawn, and I never presented a contin- 
gent account, so that instead of my owing there will be due to me about 
400 $ from the War Dei^artment. This 1000 $ which I required was 
to meet an engagement here. 

The next day after advice of this Mr. Leiper notified me that he 
would no longer lend me his name. 

The same day Mr. Joseph Clay wrote a letter to my bookkeeper of 
which the following is an exact copy. 

(copy) 

Sir The causes of my refusal are the groundless and unwarrantable 
attacks in the Aurora on m^/ friends ; particularly on Mr. Randolph. 
I never will lend the support of my name to such conduct. If Mr. Duane 
chooses to continue it, he must look to othei's for relief. Mr. Duane is 
at perfect liberty to pursue that course of political conduct which to him 
may seem correct; but the abuse of men whom I esteem cannot be 
either a necessary or justifiable means of convincing the public of the 
wisdom of any measures of which he may become the advocate. I am, 
Sir, your obed Ser'. 

(Signed) Joseph Clay 
March 13. 1811. 

Of the letter I need say nothing, but the effect of this combined 
denial of my property at the treasury, this odious persecution of Mr. 
Leiper and Mr. Clay, leave me unable to raise 9000 $, for their con- 
duct is no secret and Mr. Leiper has avowed his purpose to put down the 
Aurora ! 

This history is prolix, but I know no one to whom I can relate it 
so properly as yourself, who know my principles and my public conduct ; 
this is the more barbarous on the part of Mr. Clay inasmuch as he was 
one of my predecessor's trustees and guardians of those children whom 
instead of the public I have honorably and affectionately reared ; they 
must suffer the same fate with me, because Mr. Dallas has given it as 
his opinion that the children of Ben. F. Bache cannot inherit any part 
of Dr. Franklin's estate ! His daughter having married one of the 
brothers of my predecessor ! 

I am aware that this narrative will give you some pain, but my dear 
Sir, to whom must I pour out my feelings if not to you whom those 
that are faithful to the republic love and with whose esteem I have been 
KO particularly favored. 

I have advertised my property in books for sale, but I cannot owing 
to the presence of foreign commercial affairs upon the community not 



348 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

been able to make any sale tbo' I offered books to tbe value of tea 
thousand dollars for 5000 cash, or even for endorsements for nine or 12 
months, by which time I should be able to repay the whole with interest. 
The four volumes of Franklin's works with plates are all printed and 
at two and a half dollars a volume, these alone are worth 20,000 
dollars. I have even offered them at a reduced price engaging or for- 
feit the whole to have the Memoirs written and printed by the 4"' of 
July next. 

Here I can look to no one. Is there not in Virginia where I have been 
so much flattered for my public services public spirit to interpose and 
save the Aurora and its Editor from the fangs of John Randolph's 
creature. I would not accept a present from any man, I would beg 
sooner than be the slave of any man's monied present ; but I should 
accept of a loan of 8000 dollars which I should repay with interest in 
the course of the present year, would save me from the danger that 
impends, and which I can barely ward off from day to day perhaps 
for eight or ten days, and even then with difficulty. 

The effect on the Republican interest, you must be sensible will not 
be a little should I be ruined. I have already suffered enough from 
the instability of public men and their disregard of the services of an 
incorruptible and inflexible man in support of the vital interests of the 
nation. 

In this situation, respected Sir, it is impossible for me to say when 
I shall be able to proceed with the commentary on Montesquieu. If 
free from this I should go on immediately and once free from this di- 
lemma, should never place myself in the power of the caprice of any 
man again, 

I trust that with your usual kindness this will meet indulgence. 
With affectionate respect 

Yours ever faithfully. 

If 80 gentlemen would lend me 100 dollars each, payable in 9, 12, 15 
months, it would not only save me, but I should be able to pay it in 
cash in these periods and get out of Bank altogether. It is to those in 
whom I have confidence and who have confidence in me that I can ven- 
ture to make such suggestions. If I were a villain I need have no 
pecuniary necessity. 

To Jefferson} 

Phil^ July 5, 1811 

Sir, — By the Mail of this day, I forward you a single copy of the 

Review of Montesquieu. I hope you will find it executed in a style of 

neatness not discreditable to the work nor to the American press. By 

printing it on a larger type and a smaller page, it might have been 

1 Jeflf. MSS. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANB. 349 

made a large volume, but I believe it will be considered as preferable 
in its present form by those who prefer a book for its contents rather 
than by weight or measure. 

I have ventured to place two short paragraphs from Hobbes and 
Beccarria, as mottoes to the title page, containing applicable truths, and 
at least not inconsistent with its spirit; it was done merely to comply 
with a fashion rather than any other motive. 

The price which I have put it to sale at is governed by two consid- 
erations, the expense incurred and the expense to be incurred in 
circulating it. I have printed 750 copies, and must pay 25 per cent 
out of the price only for circulating it, that being the sum agreed upon 
with the man I employ to obtain subscribers and deliver works ; should 
this edition sell sufficiently soon, it will determine whether or not it 
would be advisable to print another edition at a lower price, and that 
will be known by the demand and the impression which the work 
makes ; it is too soon to form any judgment here, as my political sins 
of several years prevents the light of my door from being darkened by 
federal shadows. 

I trust you will excuse my not having written in answer to your two 
letters of 28 March and May 1. They excited in my breast very pain- 
ful feelings, and as I could not touch the subjects to which they related 
without expressing my sentiments explicitly and fairly, I judged it 
preferable to be silent, perfectly satisfied with my own integrity and 
indifferent to the frowns or favors of mankind thus fortified. 

If the book is in the form which you suggested as adapted for send- 
ing abroad, I shall send you the ten copies which you weie pleased to 
order ; or if there should be any other form of binding or putting 
together, with thinner covers in the manner of French works, I shall 
have them executed to your wish, having bookbinders in my own house. 
I am, sir, with great respect, your obedient ser'- 

To Jefferson} 

Phila. July 17, 1812 

Respected Sir, — I should have answered your obliging letter of 
the 20'.'' April, had my mind not been kept in agitation by the pressure 
which I began to feel heavily in consequence of my opposition to the 
U. S. Bank, and which, although I have in effect surmounted, has left 
me like a man after a severe disease, with an unusual degree of debility. 
I had read your admirable work on the batture before I was favored with 
a copy from yourself, and I have heard it repeatedly spoken of in terms 
very grateful to my own feelings and honorable to you. I think you 
have extinguished that unfortunate man, who has caused himself to be 
extinguished. 

1 Jeff. MSS. 



350 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

When you wrote, I still hesitated as to the probability of war. I did 
not know how we could avoid it, but I did not see how we could go 
into it, from causes that are too obvious. I was at the same time per- 
fectly convinced that if we should once get into a war, that altho' we 
should, from temporary as well as general causes, sustain some disasters 
and afflictions, that we should be triply benefitted in the result ; and 
that the entire extinction of the poisonous influence of England would 
alone compensate every loss. The apprehension I entertained was that 
from the universal consent of all men and all parties, of men in and 
men out of power, on the incompetency of the head of the War Depart- 
ment, that there would be an indisposition to enter upon a war, with 
this incompetency existing and present. I spent a fortnight at Wash- 
ington in April, whither I went to sell my lot and house on Penn? 
avenue, which I did to Mr. Gales. During that time I published a 
small pamphlet of which I send you a copy ; the extraordinary eifect it 
produced on men's minds I cannot describe, but it has produced a law 
correcting almost every thing pointed out as to the organization ; and 
the system of discipline which induced me to notice the subject at all 
has been since withdrawn and is now undergoing another metamor- 
phose. I certainly dreaded the effect of a war under such incompetent 
hands as D! Eustis, and I dread it still ; it is indeed fortunate that 
there is no formidable land force in our neighborhood nor to be appre- 
hended, tho' I find by this day's mail a fleet of transports with troops 
has arrived at, Quebec (103 Reg!). You would scarcely credit what I 
could tell you and what I could point out in the military department — 
and the extravagant waste that will follow the present confusion and 
want of system in that department. I have sought to make it known 
to the Executive through various channels without any visible effect; 
and I see no probability of any correction but in some fatal disaster 
when public indignation will force the imbecile man to abandon a sta- 
tion which he ought never to have accepted, and in which more cor- 
ruption of the principles of the government and discredit and dishonor 
has been inflicted on the government than in any equal period from the 
establishment of the Constitution. 

It would give you more pain than I should wish to give any one I 
respect, to go into particular details ; or to attempt any anticipation of 
the consequences. I have determined for myself not to meddle with 
any public questions, but in a general way, maintaining the rights of 
the nation, the prosecution of the war, and supporting those principles 
upon which the republicans came into power in 1798, for tho' I have 
been sacrificed and in fact persecuted and nearly ruined by those whose 
promotion was aided by my services and sufferings, yet the principles 
are to me and will ever be as sacred as my life and honor. 

I sent you a copy of my Infantnj Hand Book by which I meant to 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 351 

supply what was so much wanted in the coixntry ; and I now send you 
another for Riflemen. Such are the works that are wanted throughout 
the country ; they disrobe military subjects of the mystery in which 
ignorance and cunning have involved them. I should publish a hand 
book for cavalry and another for Artillery upon the same princijiles, 
but my funds do not admit it ; and I presume since I have been 
considered in the opposition, it would not be consistent with affairs of 
state to give the writings of a suspected heretic in politics any counte- 
nance in war. I feel mortified and humiliated at the conduct I have 
personally experienced ; but I have no personal cause for mortification 
or humility ; but I cannot but perceive that your happy sentiment that 
" men feel power and forget right " is as applicable to those who re- 
ceived republican suffrages as to those who received federal. But I 
ought not to trouble you, and yet if I do not say what lies at my heart 
and which wounds my mind, shall I not be an hypocrite. 

I think we may expect a great change in Europe which will materi- 
ally affect this nation, not perhaps to her injury but by means that do 
not appear to be as yet contemplated here or elsewhere. I imagine 
that a change of fortune in the national affairs of England is not very 
remote. Such a change as I anticipate will cast upon our shores the 
riches and the wreck of British intellect, arts, sciences and manufac- 
tures : that the day is not distant when all that England had to boast 
of will cease to exist there and be transferred hither. Those who love 
tranquillity, who have panted for liberty, who have been bowed down 
by taxation ; those who labored without ceasing and slept without 
reward only to sleep and wake and eat a miserable subsistence, and 
work and sleep again, that vast class will find their way to America, 
and transplant with themselves the skill and talents which they possess, 
and upon which the power of England has existed for two centuries, or 
at least since the revocation of the Edict of Nantz which produced for 
England at that period what the madness of England is now preparing 
for us. We are destined to be the residuary legatees of British litera- 
ture, science, commerce, navigation and perhaps poiver and policy/ 
How important will it be in the present state of Europe so to regu- 
late American diplomacy, as that the legacy which we are destined to 
receive shall not also entail upon us the policy of perennial wars and 
national hatreds. Such are the faint outlines of some of my anticipa- 
tions, which be pleased to receive as they are given with affectionate 
respect. 

To Madison. 
James Madison Esqr Phil^ Aug. 6, 1812. 

President of the United States. 

Sir, — I have been just informed by M"^ Carswell that he means to 
signify by the Morning's Mail, that he cannot accept the otSce of Com- 



352 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

missary General. There is no man more honest than M"" Carsewell, 
and it is the sense which he entertains of the importance of ti)e 
station which induces him to decline its acceptance The same idea of 
its importance induces me to take the liberty of addressing you. 

A little attention to the duties which must devolve on the Commis- 
sary general during a war will shew that it requires something more 
than a mere accountant or merchant ; during a peace any office may be 
filled by common qualifications without danger, but it is otherwise in 
such a crisis as the present — and the more necessary it is to carry on 
the war with vigor, in order to make it short and decisive, so much 
more indispensable will it be to have men in such stations as can give 
vigor to the public arm. A Commissary General should have a knowl- 
edge of Military affairs — he should know their habits — their wants 
and their privations in camp and quarters — the esprit de Corps, or that 
sympathy which arises out of association — a knowledge of the country 
not merely on the map, but of its roads and means of communication, its 
people and peculiar products and resources — a knowledge of arms and 
equipments of every kind, he should know at sight what is fit, what 
not ; he should know the quality and quantity of ammunition and 
stores — and his zeal should be always guarded so as to avert the 
consequences of those momentary disasters from which no war can be 
exempted — he should be as a second soul to the war department, and 
serve as a kind of instinct to that department and the army : a very 
honest man might fill the office, and with only an innocent incapacity, 
debilitate the army, endanger the public force and ruin himself. 

In thus sketching the qualifications of a fit man permit me to suggest, 
with the most respectful deference, the name of a gentleman who unites 
with all the qualifications I have described the stern integrity of a 
private and public character, such a man as the public voice would 
applaud, the army confide in, and such as would render credit to your- 
self — I mean the present Superintendent of Military stores, M' C. 
Irvine, son of the late General W™ Irvine. He has served in the 
army is known and esteemed in private and public. His zeal for the 
public service is every where known, and his probity would be a guar- 
antee to the public and to 3'ou, such as is not always to be found in 
candidates for public office ; and I am told that at this moment there is 
a stir making to press upon you a person of the name of Duncan a 
broker of this city, a man whose profession as an agent of Usury, is 
not exactly that which is best adapted for a great trust in critical times* 

I shall only add that I have neither seen nor conversed with M' 
Irvine on this subject — I consider myself as performing an act of duty 
to the public, and should I be so fortunate as to have brought into your 
view the man qualified & he shall be appointed, I shall feel great pride 
and pleasure in the consciousness that I shall have rendered a public 



190G.] 



LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 353 



service to the country, to the army, and to the government of my 
country 

As this note is intruded on you without the knowledge of a second 

person I beg leave to say, that whatever may be its fate — it shall 

remain known only to myself — and I keep no copy. 
I am Sir 

Your very obed Ser' 

W" DUANE 

To Jefferson. 

Phil* 20. Sep-^ 1812 

Respected Sir, — I should not have troubled your retirement upon 
political Subjects had not there been a rumor for some days that you 
had consented to accept the Station of Sec*'' of State in the present Cri- 
sis, and that Mr. Monroe was to assume the War Department ; I must 
confess I feared it was too good news to be true, but I cannot refrain 
from expressing a wish that if you could consistently with your delib- 
erate feelino-s enter again into the Administration, you would contribute 
to the other eminent services which you have rendered your country 
and which appears now not only necessary to the public safety but 
which would redound to your own eternal honor. The effects of Hull's 
surrender are not to be imagined — and some great and decided act of 
the i:xecutive appears to be essential in order to turn the current 
of public feeling out of the course in which it is running; your acces- 
sion would contribute to produce such a change and to restore public 
confidence which is now not merely wavering but in which a great 
change has already taken place. The activity of the friends of Mr. 
Clinton is unexampled in this State and in other places, and were it 
not for the attacks made in their inebriety upon General Armstrong, 
they would have made a deeper impression here, for our Electoral 
ticket, is not throughout such a one as would on its own worth obtain 
a vote ; and it is the apprehension of the return of federal rule which 
alone saves M"" Madison's administration from desertion by the great 
mass of the most intelligent and virtuous part of the republicans. 

If you were to accept the ofRce, I should say all I think to you on 
the subject of public affairs, as far as the Executive administration is 
concerned ; but a^ you cannot but feel a solicitude about the work to 
the erection of which you have so largely contributed; I shall only tell 
you generally what I 'should go into particular specifications of under 
diflTerent circumstances. 

It cannot be doubted after a view of the whole ground, that the 
means possessed have not been applied with either sagacity, activity, 
industry or common sense in any branch of the War arrangements ; 
and it is a melancholy truth, that any man disposed to make use of the 
transactions in the military branch of the government and to compare 

45 



354 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

it with the most imbecile or extravagant part of M' Adams's adminis- 
tration, that the picture could be drawn with tenfold hideousness. 

Let me add that to this moment the military affairs are in a state of 
disorder and so destitute of system, that among the troops there is a 
dismal despondency, not well adapted to assure that decided effect 
which our arms ought to produce. 

A change in that course of public duties appears to me not merely 
essential to the public safety, but to the security of the policy which is 
characterized by your name, and to which the great body of the nation 
is unquestionably attached. 

The preparation within a few weeks has no doubt been greater than 
at any former period, but this I attribute to the interference of Col. 
Monroe with his aid and zeal in the War Depar* and the laborious 
efforts of the Adj' General Gushing. But it is a solemn truth that the 
Southern Department, with the exception of Wilkinson's limitted com- 
mand is not yet organized, altho' it is now three months since the 
declaration of war ; and the force on the Northern frontier collects so 
slowly that there will be scarcely time to establish any discipline, or for 
the General to know the character of the officers under him before the 
Canadian fleets will render the access to that country either as easy as 
would be now practicable, or as it would have been two months ago. 

I do not tell you these things to find fault — I only state the facts 
to shew the necessity of providing against the consequences — for no 
intelligent man can shut his eyes against them, and a despondency is 
the consequence where despondency is most dangerous, in the breasts 
of the most disinterested and virtuous men. 

The consequences require also to be looked into — the agents of the 
British are as numerous as ever — they shoulder us in the streets and 
abuse the government unchecked in our coffee houses — the enemy will 
be as well informed as we are — and perhaps better — of our situa- 
tion ; and it is proper to anticipate what they are likely to attempt, and 
to consider how we are prepared to meet their assaults. 

Their naval force will enable them to select such points on our coasts 
as are most exposed or best adapted to injure or distract us — from the 
rebellious temper in the East nothing can be apprehended singly — 
nothing could be apprehended, even if a British force were landed, if 
proper means were pursued & a competent head in the War Office to 
direct the means of repelling the traitors within and their allies from 
without. Suppose the British transport during the Winter 10000 men 
to Halifax, and taking 5000 of them on board the ships of War hoist a 
standard on some part of our Eastern coast — they would call those 5 
ten thousand and the credulity of their adherents and of their enemies 
would readily double their force — These things are practicable, I do 
not say many would join them but the effect is what I wish to guard 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE, 355 

against. Are there any steps taken — ought not steps to be taken to 
guard against such events. On the subject of the South, I shall say 
nothing. General Wilkinson presented a memoir last April to the 
War Department on the defence of the South, of which D'' Eustis 
unhappily is incompetent to appreciate the importance, and it is to be 
feared that if an attack should be made on the East or on the South, 
our foresight will be as at Machilimackinac a deplorable improvidence. 

I am not accustomed to feel so gloomy as I do on such subjects but 
I am not alone — I know no feelings but those which lend to the happi- 
ness and safety of my country — I have taken the liberty of expressing 
myself to M' Monroe with the same freedom on similar subjects — and 
I know my frankness will meet the usual indulgence with you — but a 
change in the War Department appears to me indispensible to the 
public safety and the security of the approaching Election. Ever with 
love and respect. 

Yours 

W« DuANE. 

To Madison. 
James Madison Esq PniL* Sep^ 20 1812 

President of the U States 

Sir, — The enclosed has been accidentally soiled, as it was written 
at midnight — and I have not it in my power to transcribe it — nor 
indeed to read it — I beg to be excused — I should prefer its being 
confined to yourself and Mr Monroe, as I am not so solicitous about 
any thing concerning it as the important subject to which it refers — 
and it is to be considered as a private communication — Nor do I look 
for an answer — the freedom of it you will please to excuse. 

I am Sir 

Your obed Ser' 

W" DUANE. 

To Madison. 
James Madison Esq' Phil* Sep"" 20, 1812 

President of the U States 

Sir, — If I did not believe that the motive which actuates me would 
justify me even under the possibility of my conceptions being errone- 
ous, and that you would receive the suggestions of an individual who 
has no other views than the general and common interest I should not 
venture to address you. The efforts of the humblest individual may at 
least contribute to the direction of the executive mind towards objects 
of great public importance ; and I address you without reserve under 
these impressions. 

The letter of General Hull goes to vindicate the administration in 



356 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

every thing that relates to the unliappy events at Detroit, except in the 
single point of the neglect of Machilimackinac ; and altho' this cannot 
justify the misconduct of the officer, it is a point upon which he may 
escape every imputation but that of incapacity or cowardice. 

I offer this opinion with no other view than to indicate the absolute 
necessity of being provident on other vulnerable points, and in doing 
this I must attempt to anticipate by first considering what is possible, 
the necessity of guarding against what is probable. 

The U. States may be assailed at its two extremities, that is at some 
poiut of Florida or Louisiana on the South, and at some point between 
the Long island Sound and the Bay of Casco, or between N. York and 
Portsmouth in N. Hampshire. The necessary means for the defence 
of the South I have no doubt have been properly pointed out by the 
able officer who has charge of N. Orleans ; if the government have pro- 
vided the means requisite there, and in such hands there is no doubt 
of their being well managed, it will be unnecessary to touch a point so 
much better occupied. But the most vulnerable point at this moment 
is the section on the East which I have referred to. 

What renders it particularly indispensible at this time and not an 
hour should be lost, is the peculiar circumstances of the Eastern states 
and the facilities which their superior naval force afford to the enemy 
to select any point of that section of the Union upon which they may 
think fit to make an impression. 

I do not believe that disaffection is either so extensive as the sedi- 
tious in that quarter represent, nor do I think that left to themselves 
without external influence, their clamors or the most treasonable efforts 
they could make would end in any other than their own destruction and 
the greater security of the government. 

But as in all political affairs, as well as in military affairs, the effects 
of human passions acted upon by sudden and alarming events must be 
always taken into view, it may be safely assumed that the landing of a 
force of some three to five thousand troops of the enemy on any point of 
that section would encourage disaffection, and what is most to be appre- 
hended, appal the virtuous. The effect need not be minutely examined, 
it is within the measure of every man's conception. 

But it may be presumed that as the disaffection is more in clamor 
than in reality, there is not so much danger. This would be just rea- 
soning if we had any reasons to think the British government to be 
wiser now or less credulous when their wishes were their counsellors 
than at former periods. If we wanted any evidence to satisfy us, the 
speeches in the Parliament of England in the last Session, the mission of 
Henry, and the audacious insolence and temerity of the adherents of 
England in our seaports and at the Seat of the government itself, would 
declare that the British government calculates largely on the disaffiic- 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 357 

tion in all parts of the Union, but particularly in the three maritime 
states next adjoining to N York. That they will act in some shape 
upon these calculations I believe there can be no doubt, whether they 
will resort to private emissaries and largesses, or to public offers of 
Alliance and association with those States ; or whether they will employ 
their naval force to land an army on tlie Eastern coasts is uncertain ; I 
think they will attempt all these means. Tt may be very truly urged, 
that they could derive no permanent advantage from such attempts ; 
that they would be driven off in disgrace or their troops compelled to 
surrender ; or that they could not send a force sufficient for any durable 
conquest. But admitting all these results as certain, the event is not 
the whole of the consideration, they could accomplish great and heavy 
afflictions — they would paralyse the efforts and obstruct the resources 
of prosperity over a large surface of country ; the alarm would be 
even greater than the danger or the evil perpetrated but the evil 
would not be wholly local, its effects would be felt to the extreme of 
the union as the disastrous but comparatively trivial event at Detroit 
now is. 

It may be well to consider what they can and may do. This impor- 
tance wliich they necessarily and truly attach to the Station of Halifax, 
superadded to the importance of Quebec will induce them to send out a 
considerable force to Halifax, arriving early they might enter the St 
Lawrence at any time in the ensuing month of October, vessels to my 
knowledge have entered in November, and a vessel has been known to 
sail early in December ; however, they can enter Halifax at any season. 
They may upon ten ships of war and 20 transports send 10000 men 
to Halifax. They can provision them by the temptations which they 
have held forth to the avarice of our people to carry provisions to 
Bermuda or direct to Halifax ; but even if provisions should not be 
abundant they would then have a fresh stimulant to keep their troops 
in action and discipline, to transport a body of 5000 to some part of our 
coasts where by the previous advices of their emissaries they would 
find means to subsist their troops or satiate their rapacity. 

Perhaps by an understanding ivith their friends they may not at first 
touch Boston ; but the greater probability is that their first attempts 
would be in that quarter ; but secure within Cape Cod with a superior 
fleet they could select any place in that Bay particularly Plymouth ; 
the waters of Rhode Island and all along the Sound to New Rochelle 
they might depredate without danger, and land troops under cover of 
their ships, 5000 men landed on Long Island could carry off every 
thing upon it and bombard and lay N. York in ashes, and retire before 
any force competent to resist them could be brought to act. 

I draw this sketch rapidly tho its scope is extensive, because altho' 
they could not operate on all that line of coast at once, yet they having 



358 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

the choice of the point of attack it is iudispensible to consider how far 
and how much they may be able to go aud do. 

That such is the course a powerful and skilful enemy would pursue, 
I believe will admit of no question ; and without supposing them to 
possess all the skill in the world, it can hardly be presumed that 
they are so little acquainted with the management of military opera- 
tions as to overlook such advantages as our circumstances present to 
them. 

These views press upon the consideration of the government the 
importance of an early and adequate preparation against such contin- 
gencies ; and there [are] other motives no less cogent which call imperi- 
ously for effective aud prompt preparations. 

Measures of prevention are of all others the most wise ; they do not 
carry the eclat of victory but they secure the consolations of virtue ; 
they do good by preventing evil. The means by which I would guard 
against them, is by acting upon the offensive. I would not wait for his 
assault, I would compel him to remain within his stronghold, if I could 
do no better ; but if I could take it from him, I would prefer it, but at 
any events I would keep him so effectually in check that he should not 
be capable of moving without danger, and I should thereby protect 
myself. 

In a paper which I published a few days ago, I threw out a loose 
sketch of these conceptions, but I confess there was an object upon which 
1 loould not publicly touch, which is of no less moment, perhaps of the 
greatest moment. I shall state it when I have suggested the means to 
which I would have recourse. 

I would embody and encamp a force of 10000 men in two divisions ; 
5000 regulars, 5000 Volunteers, or such Militia as would perform a 
tour of duty for six months, in which case they should go at the end 
of every month after the first three, one thousand men, and be suc- 
ceeded by 1000, who should be as exactly disciplined as the regulars ; 
with these corps, I should threaten to march to Quebec in the first in- 
stance by the Kennebeck & Chaudiere ; but I should by marches of 
discipline change their direction and menace Halifax; if Halifax should 
be found accessible (and I know it is) it might be taken after two or 
three feints ; — if not taken the troops would at least be disciplined to 
war by the movements, and the enemy apprized of the state of prepara- 
tion would be cautious of exposing his post by sending his troops upon 
marauding expeditions or to be taken by a force so much more capable 
from its local advantages of repelling them, 

I need not point out the advantages to discipline, and to the acquisition 
of an efficient force for any service, the embodying a compact army of 1 0000 
men would prove. But what I before referred to is the importance 
of having it embodied in the very neighborhood of disaffection — its 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 359 

presence without a single act of rigor, its discipline without being 
employed on any other duty, would not only destroy every disposition to 
treason, but it would disconcert the enemy by occupying the very 
ground upon which he had been invited to raise his standard. 

A force of this kind would attract attention, the faithful citizen would 
feel a confidence which he is now a stranger to — the army itself would 
circulate its pay and give activity to local industry ; the voice of patri- 
otism would be heard where treason now mutters curses upon the 
government which is too mild to punish it, and the operations in other 
quarters would instead of being interrupted or weakened, they would 
derive confidence and strength from the very knowledge that such a 
force existed. 

I have expressed what I conceive to be in itself more important than 
I can describe it — but I sincerely believe it would be a measure of 
the greatest importance in all the views in which I have presented it. 
I am Sir with great respect 

Your obed Ser' 

W" DUANE 

The two parties opposed to the present administration, who had 
delegates at Lancaster — have quarreled and separated in ill blood — 
without agreeing on any object relative to the Governmental or 
Presidential election — a good omen. 

To Jefferson. 

Phila Feb. 14. 1813 

Respected Sir, — I could not before this day find an opportunity 
undisturbed to answer yours of the 22^* ult. Never having been much 
of a pecuniary calculator it is absolutely out of my power to say how 
my account with the Review of Montesquieu stands. When pressed 
hard last year by the combination of one set of old friends and the 
desertion of the rest I found in the sacrifice of a considerable number 
of the review for the price of print and paper some little aid in saving 
me from wreck ; and as every cent then was in effect as good as a dollar 
when I did not want the dollar, I have derived some gratification in 
that respect that even my wants contributed to utility ; and in fact I 
feel perfectly satisfied, beside that I have some copies remaining which 
I sell now and then at 2 $ allowing the bookseller who rents my store, 
the usual discount. I have made various efforts to have the book re- 
viewed in Boston, N. York, and here without success ; and even a copy 
which Mr Ronaldson deposited in the hands of the Edinburg Reviewers 
Editor, has had no better success ; such is the conspiracy against virtue 
even among those who profess themselves the lovers of light and litera- 
ture. I had once one inclination to send a copy to W. L. Smith of 



360 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

Charleston iu return for an anecdote of D' Franklin which he volun- 
teered to me ; but as I was about to dispatch it I found he took himself 
off. I shall send you the original French MSS. by mail as soon as the 
Weather clears so as to secure it from dauger of wet on the road ; and 
I shall be grateful for the Copy of Tracy's Work, which I shall be able 
to go through as a change of exercise during the Summer. 

I should not have ventured to touch upon political affairs, had you 
not mentioned the subject, having considered a former letter as in some 
measure interdicting me on that topic — and while I attempt it now I 
leel loth lest my ideas should give you pain ; and am only justified to 
myself by the intention, which is not to give pain but to give the senti- 
ments of a feeling and minute observer. 

I believe it is unnecessary to repeat how fatally realized my predic- 
tions have been on our military affairs — the sacrifices in the west are 
not at an end, and I shall be very well content if Harrison after spend- 
ing a million of dollars in his erratic course returns with the western 
youth safe to their homes. The sacrifice on the Raisin river is only a 
second edition of Tippecanoe — Detroit — Queenstown, and Buffaloe 
are all the fruit of the shocking disregard of common sense in the choice 
of unfit, incapable, and profligate men, raised by the vilest intrigues to 
stations in which the sacrifice of virtuous men was to be the fruit of 
their elevation. The solitary influence of gallantry in the subalterns 
& soldiers reflects back and renders more conspicuous the imbecility of 
those who were the leaders! I could go into a history of transactions 

^on this subject that would shock you — I forbear — but it will be history. 
What could we expect but reverses, when one general was ap[)ointed 
full of years only to prevent his being a rival candidate to a member 
of Congress from the same district. Another because the Secretary 
at War declared "he would not have conducted the business against 

3Vilkinson, had it not been for his aid." If I could believe that provi- 
dence ever interfered in human affairs or murdered the innocent to 
expiate the sins of the guilty who were spared, I should consider our 
sufferings in the last campaign a punishment for the shocking perse- 
cution of the man of all others best adapted to save the country from 
such disasters as ignorance and imbecility have brought upon us. How 
could we expect any thing but reverses. When I am well authorized 
to say that the very first news of the war given to the enemy by 
which Machilimackinac was taken and Hull's baggage intercepted ivas 
communicated from Wasldngton I have experienced your repugnance 
to believe any thing sinister of particular men — I therefore forbear to 
name the person under whose frank that news passed to the North 
West company's agent. Whenever Hull's trial comes on the fact will 
appear. I do not choose to place myself again in that point of public 
view, which may expose me to persecution, my family to destruction, 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 361 

and the cruel abandonment of those who owed me nothing but gratitude, 
and to whom I owe nothing but the blushes which the recollection of 
their conduct always produces. 

The policy which has been pursued towards British agents in admit- 
ting cargoes notoriously contrary to established law, has had a fatal 
effect on the minds of the men most devoted to the republic — a change 
in that course of policy and the influence which directs, is the wish of 
thousands, and it cannot be long before it cannot be avoided ; it squats 
like an incubus on the executive power and benumbs the whole 
government. 

I have had repeated applications made to me to make a public expo- 
sition of numerous facts — I determined when the war was declared 
that I would not countenance any expositions which were not of vital 
importance to the State and I have adhered to it; where I could not 
applaud I have been silent, and I have endeavored by private com- 
munications to render every service in my power. 

I should write more frequently to you if I did not apprehend it 
would be disagreeable; I have written now only in consequence of 
your touching the subject. 

I shall be glad to receive Tracy's work whenever you may think 
proper to send it. Have you seen Ganilh's book on Political Economy 
— I find it translated into English published at N. York ; is worthy of 
your perusal. 

Believe me ever affectionately yours 

W" DUANE 

This letter has been delayed till this date (9 March) by a rumor 
that you were unwell ; Col. Coles who called here removed my fears 
first on that head — but the letter has lain over until taken up among 
the last month's miscellaneous business. M' Madison's message about 
the licenses and his speech on his reelection have given some hopes 
to the republicans — but the failure of the laws in the Senate has 
excited equal disgust. M' M. chose the greater evil and got rid of the 
lesser two years ago. 

To Jefferson. 

Phila Sep-- 26, 1813 

Dear and respkcted Sir, — I have the pleasure of receiving 
yours of the 18"" this day — the work of Tracy is going forward but 
slowly, as I cannot devote from my present engagements the time I 
should wish to see it pushed forward. I have put it in the hands of 
one of Neef's assistants, a sensible and liberal young man; and Neef is 
able to render the abstruseness of Tracy's metaphysics a little more 
comprehensible than my young friend or myself should — I did not 

46 



362 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

calculate upon accomplishing it before the close of the present fall, and 
I think it will be ready for a full perusal by the end of October. 

The affair of the Euterprize & Boxer has been followed by another 
triumph still more signal in manner and consequences The victory on 
Lake Erie has laid the foundation for the Security of the western 
countries, which ought to have been long since achieved by the enoi-- 
mous means of every kind money, men, and stores furnished, but which 
have been wasted in a manner the most shameful and with effects cor- 
responding in disgrace. It is deplorable, with the experience of ages 
and of our own times, with common sense to resort to, how unfortunate 
has been the manner in which the military operations were consigned 
and the hands in which they were placed. Poor Pike when I last saw 
him in this city said to me at parting — "I shall go to Canada proba- 
bly never to return, but I shall go ; for the generals we have are all 
generals of the Cabinet, and it is only after several of us who have 
some knowledge of military business are sacrificed, that men will be 
placed to lead who are now in the ranks or in obscurity — you shall 
then see our cabinet generals retire and fighting generals brought 
forward." 

It was a great calamity that such a man as Eustis should have had 
the appointments of the army at his discretion, since his errors have 
been a burthen to the country and an obstacle to his successor; that is 
however now in some measure correcting itself. No man esteems 
Gen Dearborne more than I do, but it was a great mistake to place 
him in these times at the head of a new army — and it was still 
worse to give him coadjutors incompetent from various causes to 
supply any of his deficiencies. He had Morgan Lewis for Q' Master 
General, who if it could procure him a diadem could not give an 
instruction nor define the duties of one of his deputies, in fact it was 
sending a vessel to sea without raising her anchors to put such a man 
in such a station, and yet the expedient resorted to was to make him 
a Major General who could not execute the duties of Q"^ Master ! 
Another of poor Dearborne's props was Alexander Smythe, a man who 
to this hour is incapable of exercising a company, and this is the man 
who was to organize a raw army ! General Bloomfield had some expe- 
rience and was wounded at Brandy wine, and his knowledge of details 
in the old forms is perhaps equal to any one of his cotemporaries ; but 
he has not the remotest idea of modern principles nor of that distribu- 
tion of the duties which renders ten thousand men as manageable as 
one though he is a man of note — and independent of the effects of age 
which is already dotage, he was not competent to any service in action, 
and especially in Canada; while Pike was in his brigade it was well 
because Pike saved him the trouble of every sense but hearing — and 
at last the organization of the Staff afforded an opportunity to place 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 363 

him where no military service was required, but where it required the 
greatest patience and a sentiment of generosity to keep matters out of 
confusion — a Volunteer association composed of the sons of Tories and 
Aristocrats in this city were called into service by him at the very 
moment they were defaming the government — they were sent to camp 
and were a curse to the neighborhood — on their march they entered 
peaceable houses and carried away provisions by violence, tho' amply 
supplied by public providence they practised in common various acts of 
violence on the public arms in their hands and darned them as Demo- 
cratic arms and returned them totally unfit for service ; yet these men 
received public thanks in a general order for their exemplary conduct 
and discipline ! As Adjutant General I declined signing and refused 
to publish such an order — but it is only a specimen of what was doing 
on the frontiers. 

I speak of this matter more fully because it comes under my own 
eyes and knowledge — I have no motive of a personal kind to be dis- 
satisfied with Gen. B. and he has more than once said he was fortunate 
in having me as his adj. Gen. But it goes to show what unhappy 
misconceptions governed the choice of officers. Winder was a younger 
man but before he was appointed he knew no more of Military affairs 
than his horse ; and I am satisfied he could not put a company in 
motion now after two years experience. Chandler was not a whit 
better as to intelligence. The consequences have been seen, but it has 
cost the country much treasure and much more precious blood, which 
might have been saved. But if I were to go into the numeration of 
all that might be truly said and deplored on this subject, you would be 
tired and I should be ashamed to exhibit a picture so inconsistent with 
the virtue of a republic and so fatal to its character for talents and 
public spirit. The refusal of Gen. Davie and Governor Ogden of rank 
in the army, they pretend to justify upon such grounds as those, tho' 1 
am perfectly aware that their refusal was actuated by different motives. 
Their nomination however is very characteristic of the fatal jDolicy 
v/hich has too long prevailed, and which your goodness will excuse me 
for saying was too much countenanced by yourself; it is too plain that 
we are not all republicans nor all federalists — the spirit of faction in the 
East I apprehend has been too much encouraged by the mistakes 
which they perceived we ran into, and which they attributed to a fear 
of their power instead of that benignity in which it originated. 

It will be found true I believe in all times, that men who are indif- 
ferent to social and moral obligations can be governed by no other 
means than by their fears or interests; to place men of such a character 
on a level with men of principle or virtue is to reduce virtue and vice, 
patriotism and perfidy to a common standard of merit ! The effects 
have been felt in our political affairs — and in our military operations 



364 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

— the army has exhibited a theatre of dissention, and the sword 
which was put to the field to assail the euemy has been too frequently 
unsheathed to assault the vindicator of his country's rights and govern- 
ment. The late General Pike told me that until he witnessed the 
treasonable and seditious discourses in the field he had considered 
himself a federalist, but that he was not only cured, but astonished 
how the government ever appointed one of them to a place of honor 
or confidence. I fear that the policy of courting enemies and sacri- 
ficing friends prevails too much in political affairs, and remote and 
small as its beginnings were, that it has been carried to such a height 
as if not speedily put a stop to by some generous and magnanimous 
rallying of the republicans it will end in the frustration of all the good 
that has arisen out of the triumph of 1800. I could say a great deal on 
this topic if I were not afraid of tiring you or of giving you pain — and 
I have not written on politics so much as I have now written since 
March last. 

The sentiments you express concerning the unhappy men in the 
hands of the enemy, have warmed my most affectionate feelings towards 
you — Would to God that M"^ Madison felt as you do, and would act 
upon it; he would glorify himself and it would do more than ten sail 
of the line or twenty thousand men in prosecuting the war to a peace, 
and in elevating our country in the eyes of the AVorld. Can it be pos- 
sible that M' Madison does not converse with you or is his health such 
as to render him unable ; surely M"" Monroe would think and act with 
your thoughts. It would be rendering a most honorable service to M"" 
Madison and to humanity to point out this glorious path to Justice and 
Natural Dignity. 

I have never had the confidence or personal knowledge of M"" 
Madison with which you have honored me, or 1 should have written 
him on such subjects often. A man has been lately sent from Halifax 
to England in Irons who has been a citizen of the U. S. 20 years and 
with a family ! 

You may expect very soon to hear of something very decisive and 
brilliant by our land forces — the orders for operations have been 
issued for movements at four points on the same day ; the Erie busi- 
ness will favor Harrison's operations, if he has only prudence to consult 
some man of talents as to his operations ; but Proctor must evacuate 
Michigan and Maiden to prevent being cut off ; if Harrison possessed 
either talents or enterprise he would by throwing 2000 men across the 
Lake to Long Point compel him to surrender at Discretion. 

The operations going on lately have had in view to deceive the 
enemy, and it has succeeded admirably for I find Sir Geo. Provost has 
forsaken Kingston, where he ought to have made his stand in order to 
go up to the head of the Lake to meet those demonstrations which 



1900.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 365 

were making there for no purpose in the world, as I believe but to 
delude him iuto a snare. 

The division under Gen. Hampton has proceeded down Champlaiu ; 
the troops with him are select aud excellent; he has some able men 
near him, and he has discretion enough to depend on them more than 
on himself, which is no bad quality in such a responsible station — 
being in it. I presume that he will be (as he ought to be) in Montreal 
at least before the l""' of October ; in that event our whole force must 
be brought below. Kingston will I suppose be taken by Wilkinson. 
Quebec will be left for the end of May & June next — when it must 
fall — a siege of four weeks ought to bring Quebec under the American 
banner. 

But I have tired you — if it is not interesting it will be at least an 
evidence of my unabated respect and confidence in your continued 
liberality & friendship. 

W" DuANE 

To Madison. 

Phil* 22'' Fob. 1814 

Sir, — Having had the honor to address you on the appointment of 
a Postmaster in this city, I think myself bound to represent to you 
that an effort wholly artificial and factious is now making here to 
make an impression on your mind that the appointment is not approved 
by the mass of the community. It is very inauspicious for the repub- 
lican cause, when the worst of men and the vilest of passions can by 
any means assume the representation of the feelings and wishes of the 
community. But unquestionably the republican cause has been for 
some years in such hands as made virtuous men ashamed and feeling 
men tremble. The principle of regarding the greater good more than 
partial evil, has induced me in the station which I had occupied with 
some service to the public, to remain rather a neutral spectator, willing 
to suffer in my personal affairs & feelings, than resist a state of things 
which as to the state was only just not as bad as the reign of terror in 
1797-8. The preponderating advantage of silence was that while 
every thing was inconsistent with former political professions in the 
state, the ruling influence had come round from opposition to support 
of the general government; and the importance of the state to the 
Union in such critical times weighed down every personal considera- 
tion. This impunity has perhaps tended to aggravate the evil here, 
and as to persons the evil is now becoming as grievous as federal pro- 
scription in 1798. The same means then employed by the infuriate 
Marats of that day are now in operation by the Marats of the present. 
The persecutors of 1798 called themselves Federalists ; these of to- 
day call themselves republicans ; but it is rather an extraordinary 



366 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

coincidence, that the same men who were proscribed then by one 
party should be now proscribed by the other — and that in both 
instances the most abandoned men of both parties shouhi be the most 
active and conspicuous and that the terrorists of this day literally 
adopt the means of slander and aspersion and the proscription of 
persons who do not concur with them. 

I use the name of only one man the most active and slanderous of all 
the present race — Matt. Randall, of whose character Captain Josiah 
and Capt. W. Jones the present Sec'^ of the Navy can give you ample 
information. 

These men have caused a printed paper to be circulated for signa- 
tures — and there is no paper to which a number of signatures could not 
be procured when names not character is required. I cite two cases in 
exemplification of the course pursuing here, Mr John Dorsey is an 
auctioneer under a commission from the State Executive, he signed 
a paper for a candidate for the Post office which was handed him by 
one of the partisans who are in rule ; another paper has been since 
handed him for the removal of D' Leib ; Mr Dorsey had the honesty 
to say he could not sign such a paper as it was false from beginning to 
end — they have threatened to turn him out of his station for refusing 
to sign what he could not believe. 

Application was made to Stephen Girard the Banker for the like 
purpose, he repelled them with indignation, and told them he highly 
approved of the appointment of D'' Leib. 

In short, Sir, the calumnies raised against D' Leib are the stale 
slanders brought out of a family quarrel in 1798 or 1799, and intro- 
duced by a rival for political purposes — there is not on earth a man 
of purer integrity or nicer honor than D' Leib in his dealings between 
man and man. He has no enemies but those created by political dis- 
putes — and take away those who are interested in the present case of 
the Post Office there is not a respectable man in this community and 
a friend to the government who does not approve the appointment. 

The state of politics in this state in such hands as it now is cannot 
endure — I have no other interest in this case than a common one and 
the love of justice — ^ I do not wish to see the executive converted into 
an indirect libeller of any man's character, upon the evidence of the 
vilest men in the community. Let me most earnestly assure you that 
the course now pursuing here to injure D' Leib has excited the strong- 
est indignation in some of the most respectable of those who have sus- 
tained your administration ; and that if you were to give way to these 
artificial clamors — that the administration would suffer in the opinions 
of men whose opinions are more precious than the clamors of these 
Demagogues are to be feared. It would be throwing pain into honest 
hearts to gratify men who would abandon as they before abused your 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 367 

Dame, mind, character and authority. For myself a proscription of 
this kind countenanced by you would make me despair of the Republic 
which cruelty and relentless personal persecution has not hitherto done. 
Excuse, Sir, the warmth and the sincerity of this address — I trust 
that it is not offensive — and am sure it was not meant to be — it flows 
from my heart & unknown to another being. With great respect your 
obed Ser' 

Wm Duane 

To 3fadison. 

Phila 22d June, 1814 

Sir, — I trust to be pardoned for the liberty of addressing you when 
I assure you of my unfeigned sincerity, that I should not address you 
on any occasion, which I did not believe the object consistent with 
justice and calculated to do you honor, I have seldom taken this liberty 
and never for myself. The vacancy in the Post Office here has as is 
usual called forth a number of Candidates. My purpose is to solicit 
the station for a man whose sacrifices of a respectable profession and 
whose services in critical times entitle him to the generous considera- 
tion of the Republican Administration. D'' M. Leib to my knowledge 
sacrificed his medical practice of 5000 $ a year, and came forward in 
defence of the principles of the government when the whole number 
of men who dared to avow their politics in this city did not exceed 
twenty. He has for his services in that trying period incurred an un- 
varying course of political persecution — no man in this community has 
done more within the period of my experience by his zeal, intelligence, 
and integrity than Dr. Leib. Other men with politics and morals more 
elastic have accumulated wealth, while he has been the scape goat of 
the apostates from principle and the proselytes of avarice to the pre- 
vailing authority. 

I am the more earnestly induced to trespass on you with my feelings 
on this occasion because the opposition to him bears a character so 
impudent and indecent in its public form, and proceeds from a person 
who not seven years ago avowed that he would have been a Tory had 
he lived in the Revolution, and who has been elected to Congress only 
through the disposition which has prevailed with those in this district 
who could have prevented it to make every sacrifice to avoid even the 
appearance of division at a period when union was so necessary. 

Of the candidates who it is reported are likely to possess a strong 
interest with the Executive I am told young M' Baclie is one. JNIy 
connexions with that gentleman's family, are well known ; I also know 
that he possesses already a handsome fortune and an office under the 
state government. 

But there is a consideration which you will I am sure pardon me for 



368 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

pressing upon your attention, because it in some degree touches myself; 
and in truth because I have experienced in some measure how little 
past services are regarded in politics when present purposes derive no 
support for them. It is painfully true that in this district the men 
who rendered the most service in the days of terror, who sacrificed 
every thing and who risked life, have been grievously persecuted by men 
who call themselves the friends of the administration — some of these 
persecutors high in office and enormously aggrandized from public pa- 
tronage, I can assert for myself that I have been grievously persecuted 
in my industry, my character, my family peace, and in every pursuit — 
by persons of this description. I have in this respect shared a fate in 
common with D'' Leib, who has felt it more perhaps because he had 
not in his hands the means of vindication and retaliation which I pos- 
sess, but which because I do possess I have seldom used. 

My hope in addressing you thus earnestly is to put an end to this 
notion that men whose services were precious in trying times are to be 
held up for proscription, to persons who unite so many incongruities 
of character of every kind that I forbear to trouble you with any par- 
ticular enumeration of them. I solicit for Dr Leib your patronage 
honestly and manfully — Let me add that I do this without his knowl- 
edge — nay that he and I have not been on terms of intimacy since 
the last session of Congress — nor have we spoken to or corresponded 
with each other. I can assure yon that however the appointment may 
be opposed by men who will oppose every thing, by those who have 
within two or three years used and flattered you — by those who would 
with equal facility abuse you again were their avarice to be glutted by 
it — I assure you that no man of whom I have heard will afford more 
satisfaction to the liberal, to those only whose opinion is worthy of the 
regard of a chief magistrate or any other honest man. 
I am Sir with the utmost respect 

Your obed Ser' 

W^' DUANE 

To Jefferson. 

Phila 11 Aug. 1814 

Respected & dear Sir, — The translation has been completed 
several months, but business of every kind has been thrown into new 
channels, and of the six presses which were formerly employed for my 
benefit only one which prints the Aurora is now employed — there was 
not work to pay wages, and the MSS. remains on hand. Unless a 
change of some kind takes places I see no prospect of doing any thing 
— for I am too low in purse to be able to contribute any thing to my 
wishes and the cause of truth. 

The state of things in Europe has baffled all human anticipations — 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 369 

where it will end is as difficult to foresee. Unless as they affect our 
own country I feel no deep interest in them — the French have fallen 
from the loftiest pinacle of renown to the lowest abyss of contempti- 
bility ; and one is equally at a loss whether to despise them or to abhor 
the author of all the wars of Europe most. Spain is to be sure a kind 
of foil to elevate France, by exhibiting the force and brutality of super- 
stition on the unfortunate species. But they are all very appropriately 
assimilated to bears, and lions, and panthers and tygers — 

I think seriously however of the effect on our own affairs, and the 
more seriously when I reflect on the state of the government and the 
apathy into which the people have fallen : a state perhaps the like of 
which never was before seen in a nation, an apathy which like the state 
of the human stomach in certain cases, will admit of no wholesome 
aliment ; and receives no nourishment but thro' a poisonous medium. 

The country appears to me in a state very much resembling that of 
Holland in the time of the illustrious De Witts, I believe about 1670 
or thereabout ; and menaced by the same enemy and by the same kind 
of agency. Hume describes it briefly but truly and I am afraid the 
moral condition of the country is not much better than was that of the 
Dutch who could be prevailed on to murder their benefactors, to sub- 
serve the rapacious avarice and jealousy of England and to elevate a 
family who were to be their tyrants as the price of the subserviency of 
the tyrant to England. 

The Dutch would not believe — I mean the Dutch republicans, the 
De Witts, would not believe the British meant to play them foul ; they 
believed in British friendship ; they believed the professions and promises 
of British Ministers — in defiance of the daily acts of contumely and 
outrage committed on their people 

I see the same credulity in our government — I see the power of 
England in the sneers of her agents as they walk our streets — I see 
the predominancy of that influence in the midst of war, and — forgive 
me — I see our own government temporising with this abominable 
government and inviting their contempt and their insolence by treating 
them in a manner which they must consider with exultation — as they 
must judge by themselves — and always have been truckling and mean 
in adversity, as they have been insolent and overbearing in Prosperity. 
Our Government will never accomplish any thing by reasoning or 
appealing to justice, whose policy is established on the injury of all 
other nations and whose habitual passions as a nation are hatred, envy, 
jealousy, and hardness of heart towards every other people. 

How will the bear and the lion settle the question of neutral rights — 
as the French say. I fear it is en V air — it is something like the bal- 
loons thirty years ago, no longer an object worth contending for — the 
Deliverer of Europe will probably commute for Poland all pretentions 

47 



370 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. []May, 

to the freedom of the Seas. My respect for Kings and Statesmen is not 
encreased by the experience of twenty years past. The possession of 
power appears to operate like a Tourniquet on the moral faculties, as 
soon as men possess power the moral artery appears to be screwed up — 
and the statesman becomes as frigid as a frog — Alexander the De- 
liverer has had his sop. I believe he will sit down " infamous and 
contented " ; but Poland is an immense bastion, flanking Silesia, Bohe- 
mia, Lusatia, Moravia, Austria, and Hungary — the road by Krems 
over which Suwaroff marched for Italy & Switzerland is within a few 
miles of Vienna. 

Saxony proper is portioned to aggrandize Prussia, this reduces 
Prussia to vassalage to Russia, and enables Russia to keep Austria 
counterpoised — the Austrian Empress is I believe a Saxon ! There 
is to be a grand farce at Vienna, the parade of Plenipotentiaries, who 
are to act as the arch jugglers Talleyrand & Castleragh seduce by cun- 
ning or purchase by gold — those grand arsons who set fire to nations 
and retire by the light of the conflagration they kindle to collect the 
spoils of desolation amidst the ruins. But where am I running. 

England cannot at this moment sit down quietly in peace, without 
greater danger than she can incur by continuing the war. This may ap- 
pear a paradox. Her condition cannot at any time be suddenly changed 
— it is now xohoUy viilitary — her circulation and social subsistence 
circulates through military channels — her means and experience are now 
more commensurate to war than at any former period — she may reduce 
as many of her land and naval forces as can with safety be admitted into 
society — but she will be obliged to send abroad or to abandon a larger 
portion, which would perhaps enter the armies of her rivals, or carry 
them selves to America to augment American population or man 
American vessels in commerce or war. England has experienced the 
want of Generals, it has taken her 20 years to produce one, and she 
will endeavor to keep up the breed ; she has discovered that what 
Vegetius said long ago is true — "neither length of years, nor knowl- 
edge of state affairs, do " back the art of War, but continual exercise. 

What does this lead to, you will ask? It leads to considerations 
that disturb my sleep and induce me to look at the little flock of inno- 
cents around me; I recollect what I have seen of English policy, I 
recollect the traditionary history of three generations of my ancestors — 
I have seen in three quarters of the earth beside my country the policy 
of England — the national character of its policy — I am ready to meet 
it, but I cannot be therefore insensible to what must be inevitable — if 
the Government does not act as becomes the exigency — if they slum- 
ber like the DeWitts over a Volcano ; if they temporise with disaffec- 
tion and exhibit in all their Measures the same melancholy evidences 
of discord which characterises the extremities of the nation — we are 
undone. 



1906.] LETTERS OF "WILLIAM DUANE. 371 

England has purchased every government in Europe — by her gold 
she has ai*rayed them all in arms — and in the midst of what was 
reputed the best organized tyranny that ever was framed she organized 
a conspiracy for its overthrow — and succeeded. Are we to expect this 
haughty power will in the insolence of her unexampled success treat 
us with delicacy or justice — fatal expectation! fatal because it is 
even supposed to be possible ! 

But what is wrong or what would be right. 

Pardon me as usual for the freedom and unreserve with which I 
speak to you — I pretend to nothing more than common sense. And 
if I speak with confidence and firmness it is to be attributed only to 
the earnestness & sincerity of my convictions. "What is wrong? Why 
the war from the first movement towards Tippecanoe to the last move- 
ment into Canada by Niagara has been a series of futile and wasteful 
measures, productive if successful of no positive and comprehensive or 
desirable good, but productive of disaster and destruction as they have 
been conceived and conducted. It was a fatal mistake not to declare 
war at the period of the Chesapeake, but the most fatal of all mistakes 
was the repeal of the Embargo. But I cannot conceive how any man 
who has considered the world for a life of forty years only could expect 
any thing but war after that repeal, or could think of accomplishing 
any solid object of peace but by a vigorous exercise of the whole 
energies of the nation. The embargo repeal indeed deceived the enemy 
fortunately as much as it deceived ourselves, for M' Quincey only 
echoed what Henry and other English emissaries said in Boston, that 
we could not be kicked into a war. 

The measures taken and the manner in which the war has been 
conducted is the true cause of the apathy that prevails in society. 
The friends of the Government, that is the Whigs of 1798, are the 
most disgusted and disappointed. They recollect the proscriptions and 
tyranny that prevailed during the last years of General Washington 
and all M"' Adams' presidency, and they tremble at the idea of their 
recurrence ; and they see that to be inevitable unless there be a differ- 
ent system, and unless the Executive pursues means to rouse the 
country to a sense of its danger. 

I sent you a little memoir in 1812, I send you a copy of it again 

— you will see that what I there suggested, was not only practicable, 
but that some part of it has since been proposed but not executed ; I 
mean the passage of the Cadaraqui and the occupation of a position cut- 
ting off the communication with Lower Canada. 

The expeditions from Detroit against Maiden — against Queenstown 

— against Fort George, against York in Upper Canada, could never at 
any time accomplish a purpose decisive of the war. It was the duty of 
this Government not to have made discursive expeditions ; the Militia 



372 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

should have maintained a defensive war and protected their frontier ; 
the regular foi'ce should have been all concentrated ; and they were not 
only fully adequate to conquer all upper Canada by one battle ; but to 
overwhelm lower Canada with the force possessed in the month of July 
last or in the month of March of the present year. The gallantry of 
Miller, Croghan and Johnson, Holmes, of Perry & Elliot, do not com- 
pensate the losses of the expeditions under Harrison and the shameful 
transactions of his command. 

The victory at York was dearly purchased by the life of Pike — but 
what did it or what could it accomplish even if he survived. 

The design against Montreal was one of the most infatuated that the 
mind of man ever conceived, whether the season, the position, the mode 
of access, the force and means possessed for the service, or the condition 
of the enemy be considered; it was passing into a well without a ladder 
to reascend, and the enemy above to cut off all supplies or access to 
you. The shocking imbecility of Hampton at Chateauguay was alike 
disgraceful to him and the Government which under the shelter of his 
wealth suffered him to escape in contempt of all discipline — indeed 
his first appointment was a reproach to the government, since every 
man who knew him must know that neither education nor God had 
qualified him for a military command — and it must be an implicit 
belief in the possibility of miracles which could alone sanction it. 

How can the people believe that the government was in earnest when 
such men as Morgan Lewis was made first a Quarter Master General, 
one function of which he was not fit to execute, and then a Major 
General when found unfit to be a Q' M"^ . 

I could go more into particulars but I have already written too much. 
The measures as now conducted will lead only to the same calamitous 
issues as last year — The force now under Gen. Izard if carried against 
Prescott on the Cadaraqui might decide the campaign by the surrender 
of all upper Canada and render all our seamen now on Ontario & Erie 
disposable on Champlain ; our force now dispersed might be concen- 
trated ; and our line of defence would be reduced to the line between 
the Cadaraqui and Sorrel, instead of fiom Mackinac to Champlain. 
The Indians would be quelled for want of subsistence and English 
agents ; and our forces could be in training for the opening of the 
Spring, when I expect to see a British army landed on our 
coasts. 

In reflecting on the events which are to be expected, I have con- 
ceived a project, the policy of which I will submit to you in a concise 
way ; I have no doubts or fears about its success or efficacy myself, but 
there are so many prejudices on the subject that I am well aware of 
the delicacy with which it ought to be touched ; tho' once carried into 
operation, it would be in my mind one of the most powerful and efi'ec- 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 373 

tive means of public defence that could be devised by the wisdom of 
man — I shall give it on a separate sheet. 

The enemy are now establishing a depot on the extreme of Long 
Island — I do not expect that they will attempt any thing on a large 
Scale this fall unless they should attempt a Coup de Main — but I 
expect they will in the Spring be prepared with a force to shake our 
country to the centre. 

Our government could lose nothing by acting upon this principle — 
they may sacrifice every thing by acting upon any other. 

With great esteem and respect 
Your friend & Serv' 

W" DuANE 

"Would it be expedient to use black troops? 

The probability of an extensive and perhaps durable war, renders it 
important to anticipate every means by which the public safety may be 
endangered or secured. There are many who fear a rising of the 
colored people, this suggests an enquiry, — on three several points 

1. What would be the effect of the employment in war of the white 
population alone ? 

2. What would be the effect on the colored population ? 

3. What would be the policy of the enemy ? 

1. Obliged to act on the defensive, the U. S. army must at all time 
consist of not less than 50000 effective men regulars. 

Militia 100,000 for short periods. 

If only one tenth of this number be diminished every year by the 
casualties of camps and war, then the annual diminuation each year 
would be 15000 men; say only 10000, as our people are more hardy 
and better adapted to endure fatigue than Europeans. 

If there be any foundation for the apprehension of revolt, then the 
danger is increased by the employment of whites alone ; while the col- 
ored men are exempted from any participation in the dangers or 
privations of war; and their relative strength will be augmented to 
excess equal to the number taken from the whites. 

It must be here observe)^ that the hypothesis presumes the revolt 
probable ; I however do hot believe it probable, without a foreign 
excitement. 

2. The relative effect on the numbers of the colored population is 
touched in a particular sense in the preceding observations. In another 
point of view it is very important. The American born blacks, even 
in the Southern states where slavery is yet suffered, feel a sentiment of 
patriotism and attachment to the U. S. Those who doubt it know very 
little of human nature and the force of habit on the human mind. 



374 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [IMay, 

There is nothing in the African traditions that can awaken either the 
affections of the heart or that enthusiasm which is the effect of lost or 
promised liappiness or glory. Slavery is congenial to the habits of 
thinking and to the condition of the actual Africans and their imme- 
diate descendants, their past condition was no better than tlie present; 
and the present condition of the descendant ten thousand cases to one 
is better than in Africa or any other country where they are numerous. 
If climate be the consideration, the descendants know it only by de- 
scription and the climates of the Southern States identify everything 
that can be desirable in Africa, Their ideas of liberty like all other 
ideas are derived from association ; and apt as they are frequently to 
desire to imitate the whites, very few of them ever rise to [so] much 
above their condition as [to] feel the sentiment of equality of rights in 
the dissimilarity of colors. I have known Africans of highly cultivated 
minds, I never found but one who was not content to be an external 
imitator of the manners and habits of white men. 

To gratify their passion for imitation to a certain extent would 1 
believe secure their affections and assure the exercise of all their 
faculties. The Asiatics are by no means more intelligent than the 
Africans and their descendants in what relates to their social rela- 
tions to the whites. The Asiatics equal the hardiest and proudest and 
bravest of human species ; their valor, contempt of danger, and of pain 
and death are not to be surpassed, yet they are susceptible of the most 
rigid discipline; so would the descendants of the Africans serve and be 
serviceable in the United States, To employ them as soldiers would 
be to save so many of the whites and if loss be to be calculated, to 
assure a j^roportional suffering and thereby a proportionate Security. 

To employ the blacks would be to carry against the British a force 
to them on many accounts most terrific, and to us a bond not only of 
security against the external enemy, but the best force by which the 
refractory of their own color could be kept in subjection, 1 need not 
point out the effect on the minds of the ignorant of any color, when one 
part is elevated into a better condition or more honored than his fel- 
lows, I do not admire the trait, I only speak of what is and what I 
fear ever will be the human character, 

3, There can be no doubt from what has been already seen in the 
waters of the Chesapeake that the enemy will endeavor to use the 
black population against us. It is the policy of the British in every 
part of the globe. They have corrupted and arrayed the Whites of N, 
Eng, against the Whites South of them — they have arrayed the white 
Protestant against the white Catholic in Ireland — they arrayed the 
blacks of St, Domingo against the Whites — they array Mahomedans 
against Hindus in India and govern seventy millions of an ingenious 
people by about forty brigades of troops enlisted out of the mass of 



1906.] 



LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 375 



tho people whom they rule ; they reign with a white population of 
about 20000 military and civil scattered over a country of 2000 square 
miles in perfect security and as safe as in the midst of England. 

Their policy would not overlook our apprehensions or the resource 
which a revolt would present to them. Counteract them — defeat them 
by turning the resources upon which they calculate against them. They 
have already erected a standard and issued an invitation in the South. 
My proposition would be to embody a single brigade to establish the 
first economy and discipline of the corps, and the mildness of the East 
India companys sepoy system is exactly such as is adapted to the pur- 
pose ; they might then be augmented, one battalion of 500 men to 
every white Reg of one thousand ; confining them to Infantry of the 
line, sappers and advance corps. 

I feel a perfect persuasion of the efficacy and security of such corps 
— and that to overlook or neglect to use them for military service will 
not only be a fatal blindness, but perhaps the only mode by which the 
colored population can become dangerous or injurious. 

I could enter into more detail, but the object is so important and 
novel to the mind that it is presented in this concise form to give it a 
fair opportunity for examination. 

To James Monroe. 

PHiLA25 0ctr 1814 

jy Sir, — M' Manuel Torres, a gentleman of South America who 
has resided here for a considerable number of years and is attached to 
our government and country, has favored me with the perusal of some 
financial views which I consider of the greatest value and worthy the 
attention of Government. I have advised him to present himself to you, 
and thro' you to the President and to the Sec'^ of the Treasury ; and 
I have given him a note similar to this to Mr Giles and Mr Eppes 
and shall do the like to a few others of my friends in Congress. 

Mr Torres is a man of practical experience and his principles and 
views perfectly in the Spirit of our Government, to which I believe 
him most sincerely attached. 

I am with great respect 

Your obed Ser' 

W" DuANE. 

To Jefferson. 

Phila 23d Novr 1814 

Respected Sir, — I enclose you one of 12 copies of another of my 
humble efforts to give direction to the minds of Congress towards their 
danger and their salvation. 

It behoves every man to employ his whole influence and mind to 



376 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

stimulate Congress in time to provide against the Spring A mighty 
effort can be accomplished if the members of Congress can but be 
brought to perceive the danger; and the war may be terminated before 
the middle of July by the utter expulsion of the enemy from Canada; 
any thing short of that will be doing nothing or worse. Driven out of 
that our whole disposable force would be adecpiate to meet the enemy 
at any point on the Seaboard. And the regular force might be if 
necessary reduced to one half. 

With the greatest respect & esteem your friend 

W^' DUANE. 

Received from M"" N. G. Dufief Fifteen Dollars, being so much paid 
by him on account of Thomas Jefferson late Pres' of the United States 
in account with me. 

W" DuANE 

Phil^ 2d May, 1815. 

To Jefferson. 

Phil* 9"^ Jan 1817 

Respected Sir, — There is a small sum of GO $ money paid by me 
for the translating of the continuation of Tracy's ideology ; the pressure 
of the present times alone could induce me to trespass upon you, as the 
young man the Bookseller at George Town to whom you proposed 
giving the work to be printed, intimated something like dissatisfaction 
or disapprobation on your part towards me. As I was wholly ignorant 
of any just reason I forbore, as I have been accustomed to do all my 
life, to offer no apologies for any unconscious offence ; I could not with 
propriety to myself address you now without stating the reason why I 
had not as customary in former times written to you. With unchange- 
able feelings of respect and affection, I am your friend & Ser* 

W" Duane. 

Endorsed by Jefferson : " Acct signed John B Smyth for Wm Duane 
60. D. transl 5 paper to May 1. 16." 

To Alden Partridge} 

PniLA 15th July, 1820 

My dear Sir, — Having seen your name as engaged in some Scien- 
tific pursuit near Boston I had refrained from addressing you ; but 
seeing in Nat. Intel" your letter of 30th June, I now write you with 
the view of ascertaining when your college will open. I have kept my 
son pjdward at occasional Arithmetical exercises and historical study, 
expecting to hear of your opening. Be so good as to let me know 
without delay when you will be ready to receive students, and in the 

1 Norwicli, Vermont. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 377 

event of its being soon open what may be necessary to be done in the 
way of equipment — when it may be proper to send him and whatever 
else you may think requisite. Should the College not be likely to 
open in the present year, I must place him in some other situation so 
that he may not lose this precious period of life. 

I find that the affairs at West Point are in as much disorder as 
formerly — and that vicious man Ellicott appears to have obtained a 
fatal ascendancy thro' Scott over the present inexperienced and prag- 
matic Secretary of War. 1 have been applied to, to know if I would 
publish a series of Essays on the abuses there, and have answered that 
I never promise to publish any thing before I have perused it — but 
tliat I will always publish any duly authenticated facts of abuse of 
public trust, or perversion of a public institution, be the culprits whom 
they may — but it must be a fair open and direct investigation. 

I should like to know any particulars that may be agreeable to you 
to communicate concerning your establishment — and if there are any 
facts concerning the boundary of 45° — which may divest us of any 
territory — I am otherwise interested in it, as it possibly may deter- 
mine whether I am a Canadian or a N. Torker. 

Accept my most sincere and affectionate respects. 



To Jefferson. 

Philadelphia, June 25, 1824 

Respected and deah Sir, — Your kind and consolatory letter of 
the 3Iult. I have just received on my return from Washington city, 
where I have been since the 10"' of Feb. engaged in settling accounts of 
ten years standing and rescuing myself from the opprobrium of being 
classed among the public defaulters. I will not plague you by a reca- 
pitulation of the vexations and injuries I have suffered thro' the baleful 
system (if it may be so called, which is conti'ary to all principles of policy, 
equity and justice) of accountantship in the Department under which 
my affairs had to be adjusted. In short I had a charge of S9000 first 
laid against me, — reduced to $7000 — reduced to $4000, and for this 
sum a judgment was obtained against me which was all founded on tech- 
nicalities, and without regard to the facts upon the face of written and 
contemporary statement ; where my own statement of periodical account 
presenting Debit and Credit Items, I was debited on my own 
statement but no credit would be allowed upon my credit side of 
the same sheet of paper ! My appeal to Congress, however, relieved 
me from the imputation of the judgment and gave me a balance of 
about 2000 $ as a public creditor, restoring to me my reputation ; tho' 
the Judgment was the immediate cause of my selling off all of property 
that I had in 1822. and paying to the last dollar of the produce, for as 

48 



378 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [J^Iay, 

Farquhar expresses it " the scoundrel attorney " appeared to delight in 
vexatious notifications of a judgment hanging over me, and alarming 
those to whom in the way of business I had transactions of credit, such 
as the paper maker, the typefounder, and the ink maker. To avoid all 
this I resolved to sell all and begin the world auevv in my 64"' year, 
and some gentlemen who had furnished supplies to the Colombians 
solicited me to visit that country to settle and obtain the amount of their 
accounts, I accepted their proposal to defray all my expenses, pay a 
weekly allowance to my wife during my absence, and allow me a com- 
mission on all I should settle in behalf of the claimants. My eldest 
daughter by my present wife was threatened with consumption and, like 
my daughter Katherine much attached to me, solicited to accompany, 
and her brother the second son of B. F. Bache, a lieutenant iu the 
army desired to at his own expense — with this little family party I set 
out in Oct' 1822, aud was in 15 days at La Guayra — where after 3 
days, moved to Caracas, and a residence there of 3 weeks, moved in 
Nov' for Bogota passing five great ranges and seven lesser ranges 
of the Andes, many cities and towns, and reached that Capital 3'' Feb. 
1823 — remained there in prosecution of the business 3 months — settled 
accounts to the amount of $104,000 with the board of liquidation ; left 
Bogota by the Magdalena 27 April, reached Cavthagena the 19"* May ; 
remained there at the house of W D Robinson (author of a work on 
Mexico) until embarkation 10"' June, and reached N. York on the 
auspicious 4"' July. 

An intrigue, I am sorry to say of a worthless American, deprived me 
of the benefit of my mission, other than the advantage of having my 
beloved child not only restored to health but to robust florid health by 
a journey on mules of more than 1400 miles. I had intended to have 
given some sketches of my journey to your worthy M' Randolph and 
not without a presentiment that his good lady and her father would be 
gratified — the necessity I was under of going to "Washington iu Feb- 
ruary interfered with tliis purpose, but I shall if no unhappy cause 
interferes pursue it. I returned from Washington only Yesterday ; 
and while there was surprized, and I must say gratified to learn from 
Col. R. M. Johnson, that you had written to the President concerning 
me. I was the more gratified because I had so long been without the 
satisfaction of an occasional line from you, as I had been sometimes 
accustomed to; but how it came to pass that you should so write I was 
totally at a loss to conceive till your letter before me indicated. For 
as I am perhaps too proud for my condition, and was seeking some pur- 
suit fitted for me, I did not make my true situation known but to those 
who from connexion could not remain wholly unacquainted with it. 
Col. R. M. Johnson whose friendship is of an old standing and 
whose friendship ardent towards me had voluntarily sought to 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 379 

obtain some situation for me, as I understood to be sent to Colom- 
bia or Mexico, but other arrangements had been made. Some 
others of my old friends, such as Governor D Holmes of Mississippi 
also took an interest of the same kind in my favor, and presuming upon 
your kind interference and that of others, on my being at Washington I 
had the satisfaction of a kind and friendly interview with P' Monroe. 
I spoke to him unreservedly of my circumstances and desire to obtain 
some public employment, and suggested in consequence of the vacancy 
of an Auditorship that; if the fourth which was vacant should be filled 
by M"^ Lee now Second Auditor, my acquaintance with Military ac- 
counts would render the Second Auditorship very suitable to my 
experience and aptitudes. This arrangement however did not take 
place and I returned home under an uncertainty : tho' before 1 left the 
city I was informed that one of the M' Bradley's (asst. Post" Gen') 
was about to retire, and that I might probably be appointed to the 
vacant station. This however did not reach me directly, and probably 
was more the result of friendly wishes than of any known purpose. 
Should it be within your ideas of propriety to place me again before 
him, I know his dispositions to be good, but really he has been so run 
down by importunity, and so harrassed by the incidents of three Can- 
didates at a time in his immediate circle, that it is not [at] all surprizing 
that he should be embarrassed and his memory carried off from his 
wishes in matters of inferior concern, or where there is such a mass of 
importunity. 

My situation is really painful — my poor wife, accustomed to a life of 
plenty and educated in habits more elegant than prudent, could bear the 
storms of political persecution with the constancy of a Roman matron 
and be the consolation and the partner of her husband in danger ; but 
the adversity of need or dependance is not of that nature — ^ and I fear 
that a protraction of our present condition may be fatal to her and to us 
all, her sorrows extend to her daughters, of whom we have four, the 
eldest 21, the youngest 11 — If there was a certainty of the vacancy 
above referred to and my appointment, I could console her, but I 
cannot suggest to her what may be a disappointment. The balance 
received by me was about 2000 but a great part of that was for engage- 
ments entered into by me for the public service and which I must of 
course pay away, what will remain may afford a scanty subsistence for 
three or four months, when no other resource appears to me at this 
moment open. Were I alone, a small pittance indeed would serve me 
— but it would afford me unspeakable delight if I could see her and 
my children once more in comfort & competency, and the station alluded 
to would not only effect those objects but be of many beneficial effects. 

Presuming then upon the kindness of your proffered solicitation for 
me, I request your good offices once more with the President — he is 



380 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

well disposed — but he is not aware of the necessity which alone could 
impel me to thus entreat you. 

The pamphlet arose out of a conversation with Major Clarke of Rich- 
mond, — I endeavored in conversation to remove the impressions he 
entertained and which prevailed very generally, he complained that 
he was convinced but could not recollect all my remarks and requested 
me to write them ; 1 felt some repugnance to appearing in the News- 
papers, but he promised to return what I should write — I wrote, 
shewed them to Judge Woodward, Col. Todd and two or three others 

— who requested copies, but agreed to pay for 50 — ^ which I had 
printed and sent two to you — but it was discovered and I was impor» 
tuned for copies and authorised the printer to issue a few for sale in a 
second edition. I am gratified to find it meets your sentiments — No 
one will suspect me of British attachments — but 1 have done justice 
to British policy where it is deserved, shewing however the motive. 

Mexico will demand much more activity in our policy than I am 
afraid there is a due estimate of. M' Edwards is not a fit man for the 
state of things there at any time — much more in the present critical 
time in that country. A country of 6,500,000 souls, with no more 
tlian 350,000 proprietors of soil, must leave a vast body of disposable 
people — "Take 100,000 pieces of calico and 2000 dollars" said the 
late Manuel Torres, " and a piece of calico and 2 % each will bring 
forth 100,000 men capable of being led any where and doing good or 
evil at the absolute discretion of their paymaster." There have been 
very active intrigues in that country for several years. 

I have trespassed much on you but you '1 excuse me 

Ever yr obe' 

W" DUANE. 

On a literary subject 

1 had intended to have informed you of a work I have made some 
progress in — "Sketches of Guatimala" — merely to make known to 
you that there have been some discoveries of ancient ruins in that 
country of a most interesting and curious character — for example. 

The ruins of a splendid city, have been discovered, the buildings in 
which were of hewn stone and in a peculiar but chaste style of archi- 
tecture. In one of those cities (for there are several) there has been 
found a structure of very considerable extent — five stories high — these 
buildings have cornices and architraves of delicately wrought mouldings 

— and by incidents discoverable in the distribution of the apartments, 
the various domestic offices and chambers are recognizable. But this is 
not all the wonder, there are bas and alto relievos of exquisite design, 
and of which the anatomical expression and symmetry of figure will 
bear comparison for correctness of taste and fidelity to nature, with any 
thing produced by the Grecian sculptors. One of those cities is 7 



1906.] LETTERS OP WILLIAM DUANE. 381 

leagues in circumference — I have been speaking to the lithographer 
here about executing the drawings — but shall be unable to conclude 
with him — thro' the same necessity which compels me to look for a 
public office. 

I begun the work when I became possessed of those and other 
materials, and with the access to the valuable Spanish library of R. W. 
Meade, Esq I am able to master the early history. The commercial 
history is but little known and the political less ; as the two Viceroyal- 
ties of Mexico and N. Granada, had always combined to prevent the 
growth of Guatimala into consequence ; so that it was better known 
under the rule of Cortes and his lieutenants, than during the last 
century. You must remember that Guatimala supplied Europe with 
Indigo — and that the success of the Indigo cultivation in the Carolinas 
rose upon the depression of Guatimala — tho' in our America that 
cause was not so well known ; and that the trade of Carolina in Indigo 
was undermined by the French in Bengal, before Cotton came in to 
extinguish indigo as one of N. American staples, but Caracas is now, 
and Guatimala will before five years supplant Asia, and resume its 
former and merited preeminence in indigo ; and in many other 
branches not generally suspected at this time. To the U States 
Guatimala is more important for commercial purposes than all the 
rest of Spanish America. 

To Jefferson. 

Washington, 19 October, 1824 

Respected and dear Sir, — I denied myself the pleasure of reply- 
ing to your kind letter in answer to mine concerning the Pamphlet on 
" The two Americas " from an apprehension that you were already 
too much troubled by correspondence ; tlie same motive woukl operate 
now did not an unutterable necessity induce me to the trespass as a 
refuge from despair. 

The death of Samuel Clarke, the Naval officer of the Customs at 
Philadelphia died on Saturday last, and I arrived here this day to 
solicit the station. I addressed a letter to the President, as he had 
authorised me to do, which reached him yesterday, and it was too late 
on my arrival to wait upon him. But the letter was handed to him by 
M"^ Lee under cover to whom he desired I should write. 

I am apprehensive that interests more active than mine in Phil"* will 
prevail against me, unless your goodness should see it fit to interfere 
once more in my behalf with the President. I am thus apprehensive 
because when I had an interview in May last, and tendered several 
papers containing signatures of respectable Citizens of Phil'' and mem- 
bers of both chambers of Congress here, the President was so good as 
to say that they were not necessary. Therefore I brought none now. 



382 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

But the President now has said that I must obtain signatures for this 
special office. 

Here then am I involved in a double dilemma if I may so express 
it — Tiiere are several persons who have neither my experience nor 
any claims on the Score of service, but who have less scruples to seek 
signatures — and may seek them where I should not ; again if it were 
required that I should return to obtain signatures my friends may be 
preoccupied ; and if I were to go — travelling with the utmost economy 
I should reach my family with not more than $3 — and I should find 
them with not much more — as after paying my debts and subsistence 
out of what I received here last winter — ^I had only 50 $ left. Such 
are the strange vicissitudes of life ; and it is in such circumstances that 
I was taken up as the Candidate of the Old Republicans in the recent 
Election for Members of Congress. 

No man in the Union stands better in moral and mental estimation 
than I do with men of all parties in Phil^ , and it must be a consolation 
after nearly 30 years before the public that my son and myself should 
hold the place of preference among those who adhere to the principles 
of 1776 & 1800. But altho a Republic now means something, the rights 
of man is no longer a paradox and Democratic government is no longer 
Jacobinism ; and those who formerly reprobated now use the language 
and profess the doctrine they reviled twenty four years ago ; they do 
not thank those who aided in reforming their modes of speech ; and as 
I was an idle spectator in the transactions which produced this revolu- 
tion in speech, the very same men opposed me on this occasion who 
were opposed to you at that period and since. They do justice to my 
social character, but tho they profess to be all Republicans, all Feder- 
alists — they are not forgetful that I had shared in their conversion. 

I had however a larger vote than M'' Swanwick, M"" M'Clenahan, 
capt W. Jones, or Jo. Clay — as two of the most populous and repub- 
lican wards of the city in former times voted for those citizens, but are 
now attached to the District of South wark. It is true a great number 
of the leading republicans of that period have passed away, but this 
shews that the principles of the Jefferson school has had in new gener- 
ation successors of the same principles. It is a subject that I have 
never heard appreciated as it merits, that is, the effect of these princi- 
ples gaining the ascendancy, for altho' the votes now are given in the 
same way as 20 years ago, the fundamental principles are no longer 
disputed nor reviled and the rising generation will receive them uncon- 
tamiuated. It was to me a subject of peculiar interest to mark the 
contrast between the conduct of the same persons 24 years ago and on 
the recent reception of the virtuous La Fayette ; at the former period 
I have known the license to be taken away from the old established 
tavern the Dean's Head, for no other trespass than permitting the Mar- 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 383 

seilles hymn to be sung in the House — and yet it was the very same 
man that took away the license, that ordered the Marseilles Hymn to 
be performed upon the entre of La Fayette ! 

I fear my feelings have induced me to trespass on you more than was 
necessary ; but I have been too many years accustomed to be affected 
in this way to be able to govern my feelings now — or to deny myself 
the gratification of such recollections. 

I shall therefore not trespass on you further than to entreat — and I 
have never importuned you. — may I now without wounding your good- 
ness — entreat you to act in my favor in obtaining the station of Naval 
Officer in the place of M'' Clarke deceased. My wife and her four 
daughters look with melancholy anxiety to my visit here — a failure 
would leave us utterly destitute. With that station, $2500 a year, I 
could occupy my leisure in finishing three or four works that must 
perish, if I should be abandoned now. 

With the utmost affection and respect 

Your friend & Ser* 

W^ DuANE 

To Jefferson. 

Phil'I 8 Nov 1824 

Respected and dear Sir, — That condition of humanity which 
supersedes all law is the apology which I offer for trespassing upon (you) 
ao'ain. I took the liberty of writing to you from Washington a few 
weeks ago, soliciting your good offices with the President in my behalf 
for an appointment to the vacant station of Naval Officer at this post. 

The President is returned to the Seat of Government and the appli- 
cations are very numerous, not less than fourteen, and interests are put 
in motion which I fear may prove too powerful for me, who during 
twenty six years made the public interest my sole concern and sacrific- 
ing all considerations, danger of life for five years of the first struggle — 
and devotion to public principles and public utility with an earnestness 
that contemplated its own good only in that of the public. 

I need not speak of these things because you have constantly rendered 
justice to me, even when you could not suspect I should ever hear of 
the kindness with which you spoke. But on an occasion which is so 
every way serious to me as the only prospect which presents itself to 
rescue me, my wife, and four young females from absolute want — I am 
sure you will excuse me for iterating the circumstances on which 1 
solicit your interference. 

The President had repeatedly declared, as I was informed by the late 
Manuel Torres of Columbia, that "no man who had risen since the 
Revolution, had rendered such effective services as Col Duaue" — yet 
his situation is no doubt a difficult one ; and if what I have done for the 



384 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

public were not such as would i:)lace me before any man who is an 
applicant on principles of justice I should have contented myself with 
placing my name before him. 

I believe that my services in the critical period of the war (which I 
believe you will remember I long foresaw to be inevitable,) were of 
much greater moment to the Country than I have ever had justice 
done me in any acknowledgment. Yet it is a fact that by the sacri- 
fices and labors which I then rendered, the knowledge of Military 
Affairs were more effectually and rapidly diffused thro' this nation 
than has ever occurred in a like space of time in any other nation yet 
— and it is not to complain — because this is not the time if I were 
dispose-l — yet I suffered even the honor which I earned, and the loss 
of all my expenditures and labors to be torn from me, without uttering 
a public murmur — tho' the measure towards me was a shocking act of 
injustice and injury — while the public was actually injured by the 
measures pursued to injure me — I was sacrificed to an intrigue in the 
army and the combined influence of those who while they professed to 
be the friends of the men in power never forgave me the part I took 
in producing the change. Having produced a revolution in military 
discipline — and my works being adopted by the Government, hud this 
combination not succeeded those works would have afforded to my 
children a handsome income. Under the course I experienced, I was 
literally ruined — but I suffered in silence. 

I need not draw any inference — but it is in the President's power 
to cure all my evils past and future — There is not a candidate opposed 
to me who has not a respectable income. Capt. W. Jones who is the 
principal opponent has $2500 a year as President of an Insurance 
Company — and he has not a child to depend on him. He has held 
many offices of high trust — but when my life was daily exposed almost 
alone, he was not to be found in our ranks. 

Major Jackson who held the station before, and whose conduct and 
merits have not bettered since, has his wife's fortune. 

My Wife's fortune was sunk in the public cause — and she remains 
with four daughters a melancholy example of virtuous generosity and 
voluntary sacrifice. I am always 

Your obed' Ser' 

W"' DUANE 

To William Lee. 

18 Nov 1824 

My dear Lee, — The state in which I am placed must be my 
apology for not answering your two last before this time. My poor 
Wife driven by insupportable affliction has been confined to her bed for 
a week — and my poor girls appear sinking under the force of those 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 385 

distresses which hitherto I have endeavored to confine to my own 
breast, but 'which now overcome me and them. This day I endeavored 
to borrow some money to lengthen out this state of misery which anxiety 
and hopelessness barely tolerates — My son being absent in the interior 
since his return from Washington — I could obtain — only ^"^ of a 
Dollar! ! In such a state of affliction — I endeavored nevertheless to 
find the pamphlet you mentioned — but I have not been successful; 
There has been a great wreck of books and booksellers for several 
years, and it was mentioned to me, that some money and industry had 
been perceptibly employed in buying up the political productions of 
several years back ; 1 examined several of the second hand book stores, 
but could not find any jjublications of that description, tho' I was 
anxious to procure what was wanted by D' Cutting if possible — My 
state of mind and feeling is such that I am incapable of any efTort of 
memory — and am much more disposed to go to sleep — and sleep for 
ever, than to dig up recollections which at every step would only bring 
me to compare what I have done and what I am suffering. 

It would have been more magnanimous and charitable in the Presi- 
dent to have said to me or told some one to tell me, he set no value 
upon my former services — that my sacrifices were not entitled to 
thanks — that he would not give me any public employment — than to 
leave me in this state of uncertainty and wretchedness — Had he done 
so, I might have had a newspaper that was tendered to me, at a season 
too when I was not so much broken down in my family and feelings as 
I now am, and to which after all, with all my detestation of the pursuit, 
I fear I must resort under circumstances less propitious — I dread it, 
because I write upon the heat of the mind, and when my heart throbs 
with agony and resentment and sense of injury I apprehend because I 
cannot control honest and indignant truth — I cannot simulate and 
hence anticipate — ^what I should do and how I should direct discussion 
if once embarked. 

I have not been out of doors for the last week, but when I went out 
to borrow — and know nothing of what is going on — 

My son returned on Monday — as he went — and as I anticipated — 
in fact I have given up all hope. Since Tho^ Jefl^erson's recommenda- 
tion proves to be disregarded. You say that you have hopes yet — But 
you must know that if there was an earnest desire or intention to 
confer the office on me he would at once do it, and that he is in the 
habit of making appointments without any consultation — and that 
if he wished to do it he could do it without the least interference or 
inconvenience. 

If it should happen as you say you expect in what refers to yourself 
— you need not have said a word on that subject to me as my mind is 
not indifferent to your generous efforts for my good — I am not liable 

49 



3S6 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

to be so mucli cast down as I am uow — but it is not for my individual 

self I suffer. 

Yrs ever W D 



To Jefferson,} 

Philadelphia, 20 June, 1826 

Respected Sir, — I do myself the satisfaction of sending a copy of 
my book. I think I should hardly have ventured to {Dut it forth had 
not your opinion on the matter of a letter addressed to Col. Randolph 
induced me, instead of continuing to write him as 1 had proposed to 
do, put it into the form of a book. I cannot anticipate whether it is 
well or ill done, or whether it is dull or interesting. I think that 
Sterne's idea of the temper with which a man goes to see a play, is 
equally good in going to see real life. I have endeavored not to tread 
in other men's tracks, and to relate honestly what I saw or knew to 
be true. The book is 132 pages larger than I had proposed to make 
it, yet eleven chapters written are still omitted ; and I could make 
another volume, as I proposed treating more circumstantially of the 
government, the congress, their monstrous jurisprudence, their desire as 
well as the absolute necessity of a federative, instead of a central govern- 
ment, their money, their lands, the remnants of Spanish abuses, and 
despotic immorality, smuggling, the Isthmus of Panama, you will see 
in my preface that I have made propositions to affect that long talked 
of Strait of Panama. The house of Goldsmidt, principally he who 
lately died, was to be my back, along with a House at Rottej-dam 
and another house at London. The public men, excepting Pedro 
Glial, Sec^ of State, and Soublette, Secy of War, are not men of busi- 
ness as business is done with us. They are, however, compared with 
the Spaniards prodigious men. Restrepo of the Interior is just such a 
man as you would like, enlightened, learned without the least pedantry, 
liberal to your whole measure, and above the common passions which 
despotism is apt to nourish and to create. The Sec'^ of the Treasury, 
Castillo, is a rhetorician, and there they want a man of faculty the 
most. He asked my opinion on the best mode of finance, and he was 
surprised when I told him " make roads, and leave systems till you have 
something to make systems of. " But he was determined to have a 
system, and thus far, the search of system has left them without 
revenue, and 40,000,000 in debt. The real war debt did not amount 
to 10,000,000$ — it was ascertained when I was at Bogota. Tliey 
have a passionate desire to imitate the US. — only where some habit 
has rendered it convenient not to follow it too closely. The trial by 
jury and the freedom of the press they adore — if you believe them, 

1 JeflF. MSS. 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 387 

but are utterly uninformed of the spirit and nature of the former as 
well as of the latter. I witnessed some very curious transactions in 
relation to both. 

You will see that I have found a plant (Erica) which Humboldt and 
other naturalists say is not to be found in the new world. 

The ideas of Humboldt on the native tribes I cannot concur in any 
more than D"' Robertson's, who identifies them from Greenland to 
Patagonia. I found them cheerful amiable, laborious, hardy, carrying 
heavy burdens such as a London Porter would growl under : there are 
some of the race with long jaw bones and large nostrils ; but the races 
generally are oval faced and in symmetry of structure equal to the 
Circassians, male and female. They abhor drunkenness. The only 
man I saw drunk in the country was a mulatto at a place called 
E-nimawn [?] 

Excuse this hasty note. 

Most affectionately yours. 

To Joseph Watson,} 

24 July, 1827 

Dr Sir, — The cistern and pump for Schuylkill water on the west 
side of Sixth opposite Powell Street, are in a state which requires the 
attention of the proper authorities. In the severe frosts and thaws of 
February last, the neighborhood who drew water from that pump daily 
teazed me, supposing that as a magistrate I had power to cause the 
evil to be corrected. 

I addressed a note to Clerk, which was not even taken out of the 
Post office, and I waited myself on Mr. Rush ; and Mr. Ramage who 
owns property applied also in consequence of representations made to 
him — 

The pavement contiguous to this pump is bad, unequal and small 
stagnant pools remain which filtre into the cistern, and renders the 
Schuylkill water foul and fetid — the neighborhood is composed of poor 
people who have neither property nor servants ; and it appears to me 
that the use of such water is likely to produce disease. 

The cistern was opened three or four days ago and several buckets 
of filth, more like the feculence of a necessary, were thrown out, the 
filth was such that the labourer was under the necessity of carrying the 
bucket to another pump to wash it. 

I am thus particular that the absolute necessity of attention to the 
case may be seen. 

It appears to me that the filthy state of the Cistern requires an 
entire new one — and that in order to prevent the drains of the foul 

1 Mayor of Philadelphia. Duane was at this time an alderman. 



888 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. []\Iay, 

gutters into the cistern the pavement should be so repaired as that no 
pools as at present may remain. 

I am Sir, with Great Respect 

Your obed Ser* W" Duane 

No 160 S. Sixth Street Corner of Elizabeth S. 

To John Henry Eaton. 

PhilA 25'h Jan. 1830. 

Dr Sir, — It was not my intention to trouble you with my notions 
on the concurrent preparations for events in Canada and elsewhere, 
conceiving that the mere outline of opinions urged are of themselves 
sufficient at least to induce a constant and careful use of eye and ear in 
relation to the topics themselves. The speech of Col. Benton on the 
13"' inst. has, however, afforded matter to strengthen my preexisting 
opinions, but recalled to my mind an annecdote which I will give you 
at once verbatim from a note made at the time I received it from Mr 
Torres the then minister of Columbia ; I find that in the hurry I did 
not date it, a neglect not very usual with me, however the events give 
their own date. 

The negociations for the acquisition of Florida were conducted on 
our part by J. Q. Adams, who tho' aided by all the Documentary mat- 
ter collected by Mr Jefferson in the Department committed a variety 
of blunders — if not worse. The Spanish negociator had not enough of 
confidence in his own knowledge to discuss the subject to his own satis- 
faction, and consulted the French minister Hyde de Neufville, who 
became the supplean of the sick Spaniard. In the progress of the dis- 
cussion the supplean affected much ignorance, tho' it is well known he 
was possessed of the ample Documents of the celebrated Count de 
Vergennes on Louisiana and Florida, and the best existing maps of 
those regions. The question of navigating the Mississippi was intro- 
duced gently at first, and finally the supplean aff'ecting great indifference 
requested Mr Adams himself to describe on the map how far the navi- 
gation would be admitted. Mr Adams drew a line commencing at the 
debouch of the Mississippi and ascending upwards was to embrace the 
mouth of the Arkansas, of course comprehending the Red River ; De 
Neufville expressed a cold sort of satisfaction and the treaty thus formed 
was signed by the two negociators. 

Having gained his point De Neufville hastened to the Spanish 
minister, and exulted explicitly in having accomplished the object and 
duping the American negociator The Spanish minister suddenly 
recovered his health and called on President Monroe, pressing him to 
complete it by his signature. The treaty had not yet been presented 
for signature but it was called for, and Mr. Monroe on its perusal 



1906.] LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 389 

absolutely refused to sign it — and is said to have expressed himself 
with bitter indignation that the point of all others upon which he was 
most proud of having effected, that of nationalizing the Mississippi, was 
here thro' ignorance, indifference, or design abandoned, and an attempt 
made to afford the British access under the Spanish flag to our interior 
«& western regions — notifying explicitly his determination not to sign 
the treaty ; and indicating that Mr Adams had been the dupe of 
Neufville. The question went off for a year ; and tlie public clamor 
about Florida became excessive. Overtures for reconsidering the pro- 
ject were made by Mr Adams, but the Spanish minister would not 
consent unless some equivalent was given for the abandonment of the 
navigation. The negociation was renewed, and the surrender of Texas 
between Rio del Nord & the Sabine was the price of Mr Adams' 
What d'ye call it! 

When the Spanish minister Andiagua succeeded Vives, he repeatedly 
pressed Mr Adams to complete the Treaty by a survey establishing 
the exact boundary, the Spanish commissioners having arrived and 
being ready to proceed, Mr Adams wrote him that the matter did not 
depend on the executive but on Congress before whom all the requisite 
Documents had been laid, but had not legislated upon it. 

Andiagua replied by letter that the Sec^ was mistaken for Congress 
had not only legislated on it, but had made an express appropriation 
the preceding session. After several weeks Mr A returned an answer 
acknowledging his mistaking and making promises to appoint Commis- 
sioners soon — Andiagua after waiting some months wrote Mr Adams 
that having no answer for so long a time, and the Spanish commissioners 
being here at great expence, they found it their duty to return home — 
and they were gone. 

If a just history were written of the transactions from the first settle- 
ments on the coasts of N. England, it would furnish a picture not very 
well adapted to command respect or serve for a model of social virtue. 
In a brief way it may be truly said that the narrow clannish spirit had 
more influence and individual aggrandizement, more incitement in pro- 
ducing the revolt, than nobler virtues ; the leading men saw themselves 
but a sort of fourth or fifth rate kind of characters as Colonials and 
anticipated that power which during the revolution and down to 1800 
they exercised with the mercenary spirit of merchants and the malignity 
of the sacerdotal tribe. Mr Jefferson in one of his letters hits them off 
admirably. Like men who abused power and were expelled, they hate 
their adversaries ; and all who are not with them are considered adver- 
saries ; they sought to retard the march of population with a view only 
to their local power — and as they cannot prevent they seek to retard. 
The motion of Mr Foot is in the spirit of the system and tho' it fails it 
serves the malcontent purpose of exciting jealousy and discontent east 



390 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

of the Hudson — and it serves to generate a temper adapted to favor 
the design v^hich I have dwelt on — a union of N. Eng. vpith Canada, 
where the Eastern men might ride rough-shod over the Canadians as 
they did till 1800 over the Southrons. 

Do not suppose that I consider any open measures proper or required 
to counteract those designs — I only say they should be watched — 
treated like truant children — and without giving way to their malig- 
nant passions overcome with a kindness such as they would merit if 
their views were more large and generous. But that the design is 
nourished in silence I have no doubt whatever. They feel mortified 
not to have a head in a department, perhaps it would have been politic 
to have had one ; but as it has turned out they have been taught that 
the government can be conducted without them, and that is a sad 
demonstration to them. Webster and such men are wounded, they felt 
like men converted into pigmies and their rivals Giants. I had in my 
mind to say something neiv, simple, and importaM on the subject of 
Banking — but it would not suit the department of money affairs. 

And I intended to suggest the importance of adding to the topographi- 
cal Department a liiho graphic department or apparatus ; it would be 
not only useful beyond calculation but economical ; it would like a 
similar establishment in the English war office be competent to the 
uses of all the other Departments. The Topographic Institution I 
am partial to, it is a child of my own, I begun it uncouuselled, unordered 
and unpaid — and if I had no other consolation on earth the blessings it 
has conferred and must confer on the country would compensate all the 
adverse circumstances of my life. I believe I have tired you, and shall 
not bore you again unless you should ask my opinions on any matter 
my experience may have made me acquainted with. Respects to your 
'^ood lady & 

Accept my most sincere wishes 

W™ DUANE 
Addressed : " Private General Eaton." 

Endorsed : " Wm. Duane to Gen. Jackson 25th Jan. 1830. History of Florida 
Treaty as derived from Torres, minister from Columbia." 

[From the Andrew Jackson MSS.] 

To Templeman. 

Phila 25 May 1832 
D" Sir, — The pamphlet of Judge Clayton in answer to Mr 
M'Duffie, which you proposed taking out of a volume of pamphlets, 
is not I perceive in the parcel of pamphlets which you tied up for me ; 
you will oblige me by placing it in the hands of R. C. Weightman for 
me and you may place Marsden's History of Sumatra with it, and he 
will pay you for me. 



1006.] 



LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANB. 391 



I have two sets of Mirabeau's Monarchie Prussienne or Memoirs of 
the House of Brandenburg, one of the Sets in Octavo with a curious 
and beautiful Atlas. The quarto is in 4 large volumes blue paper — 
the Octavo iu 8 vols bound ; the atlas to each is the same folio ; both in 
French. 

I would exchange these, that is either set, for other approved books. 

I have also the Posthumous Works of Frederick II of Prussia, trans- 
lated into English by Thos Holcroft, in 13 vols, octavo neatly bound 
in calf, which I would sell or exchange and I have about 250 vols, 
folio, quarto and octavo of Military Books, many of them rare and 
exquisite, such as the Campaigns of Leuxembourg, containing more 
than 200 topographical plates exhibiting the plans of campaign battles, 
routes and marches embracing the whole of the Netherlands. 

There are also several quarto, with plates as Puysegur, Monticuculi, 
Conde, Turenne, and others. 

I have also Jomini's Military Memoirs in French published before 
his desertion to the coalesced powers, and three of the four Volumes 
translated into English, as I stopt translating upon his desertion. The 
books are now more valuable as he has lately published a new edition, 
from which he has excluded all his acknowledgments to the Genius of 
Napoleon. 

I would sell all these or exchange them for approved books and at a 
very reasonable rate. 

Do not omit to place Judge Clayton's pamphlet & Marsden in Mr 
Weightman's hands — and you '1 oblige 

Your obed Ser' 

W" DUANE 

Endorsed : "Col. Wm. Duane, Editor of the Philadelphia ' Aurora,' Author of 
the ' Continuation of Gifford's History of France.' " 

Circular. 

Philadelphia, November, 1834. 

Sir, — The object of this letter is an appeal to the good sense of the 
Republican men of this Union : In exigencies we are energetic — 
the moment we have triumphed we decline into confidence, imagine 
that every thing is accomplished, and that we shall have peace and 
quiet forever. These errors might be demonstrated by repeated in- 
stances in our short history. It is not the business of this paper to do 
so ; but to invite to a consideration of the evils with which the country 
is menaced now by the undisguised and audacious corruption of the 
United States Bank. 

In 1826, the undersigned, habitually accustomed to mark the floods 
and fluxes of opinion and action in free States, attempted to enter 
upon the arena and repeat the part he had acted iu the memorable 



392 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

struggle for political life or death from 1797 to 1800. The public 
mind was not in advance of events with me. I foresaw the struggle 
that was about to be renewed. The people, reposing on their own pros- 
perity, either did not reflect, or did not duly regard the appeal then 
made to them — and the attempt then made to revive the Aurora was 
a failure ; — not from want of principle in the people — not from a 
want of devotion to free institutions ; — but they felt too confident of 
their power whenever it should become necessary to exert it. 

But out of this too confident repose have grown enormous evils. 
The tranquillity of the people has been mistaken for debasement and 
servility ; the mercenary spirit has been active, while the free spirit has 
been tolerant and unsuspicious ; and it was not until a vice, generated 
by the inexperienced application of the powers of government in the 
infancy of our institutions, became so enormous as to render uncom- 
mon energies of wisdom and courage, and disinterested devotion, 
necessary to arrest the devastation which it menaced, that the people 
have been awakened. 

Anticipating this crisis long, I had endeavored to act through the 
existing presses, and sought to call attention to the danger which 
menaced the country. It is not said in malevolence, but in truth, that 
the apathy of society at large had lured the existing presses into a 
belief that the people had become indifferent to that freedom without 
which all things cease to be precious or become ridiculous, I could find 
no channel through which to speak to the country. Failing there, I 
resolved to throw myself once more upon the public arena, and as iu 
1798 without solicitation — but upon the naked merits of tlie under- 
taking to attempt once more to meet and aid in arresting the inroads 
upon the sacred liberties of the country. 

The first Number of the Aurora, revived, was issued in July, and 
29 Numbers have been issued since — of the quality of the publication, 
and its probable utility/, it is not for the Editor to speak. But it 
becomes me in the same spirit which inspired the undertaking to 
speak to the friends of freedom with candor, frankness, and unreserve. 
— The subscription has not fulfilled the expectations nor the purposes 
of the Editor. 

In this city, the centre of Bank influence and power, where the 
Aurora, in 1798, had seventeen hundred subscribers, in 1834, it has 
not three hundred and fifty ! This contrast may be accounted for by 
very obvious causes — -some innocent, some the contrary. In 1798, 
the Aurora, stood alone — the Democratic papers in Massachusetts, 
Connecticut, and New York, were prostrated by the imprisonment and 
ruin of the editors ; and iu the case of Boston by the death of the 
Editor of the Boston Chronicle. There was then no rivalship where 
ruin was to be the reward of fidelity to the public. Worldly prudence 



1906.] 



LETTERS OF WILLIAM DUANE. 393 



now governs where money has not been directly interposed, and a sort 
of tacit compromise has taken place between the enemies of the press 
and some of the professed advocates of liberty. These interests go 
hand in hand with others less notorious, but holding much influence ; 
and for a scanty portion of advertising favor, a sort of passivity of the 
press is accomplished, without the odium but with the fetters of a 

bribe. 

It will be, therefore, perceived that a press which proclaims an 
honest war against all compromises and declares an interminable and 
inextinguishable hostility to the Bank — must be opposed by the Bank, 
and by all who expect discounts, or to rise to office or influence by 
sinister means. 

These are the causes which explain the scanty subscription of the 
Aurora, in 1834 ; and it also explains by what fatuity there has been 
drawn off by Bank credits, a sufficient number of Democratic votes to 
give this beautiful and celebrated city up to a corruption that rivals 
that of the city of the Sybarites. 

It would be tiresome to describe the many artifices, of the most 
unworthy, indeed, the most contemptible kind, which have been re- 
sorted to, to arrest the success of the Aurora, among which, it is pain- 
ful thouo-h it is too true not to be revealed — to discover the hands 

of false friends. In such a case, the manly course is to be open, 
explicit, and above board. The Aurora must not depend upon a 
corrupt city, but upon an honest country. The city interests are 
selfish and contracted — those of the country are large and diffusive; 
and it must depend on the country whether the Aukora shall continue 
to maintain those broad principles of freedom, prosperity, and knowl- 
edge which obtained for it, in former times, so much applause, and 
in this day so many testimonies of a generous remembrance. 

The subscription has not been adequate to enable me to fulfil my inten- 
tions, expressed in my prospectus ; and those who have subscribed, in 
too many instances, have not fulfilled the obligation which they entered 
into, of paying in advance, without which it was manifest from my fair 
avowals, it was impossible I could go on. 

Here, then, is the case which has called forth this unreserved appeal ; 
and I shall now as candidly state what I deem necessary to be 
understood by every man who values the freedom of the press. 

The combinations formed by disappointed and ambitious men in the 
South, the West, and the East, have concentrated their several kinds 
of hostility with that paper power, to which a false policy has given the 
force of law. The hatred and discord of the triumvirate, like that of 
other triumvirates known in history, have been merged in the Bank ; 
seeking the reestablishraent of that all corrupting instrument, they 
silence their several pretensions, resolved first to create general distrac- 

60 



394 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [May, 

tion, and then to contend for that domination against each other, of 
which they have already shown themselves utterly unworthy. 

This focus of faction legally ceases on the 4th of March, 183G, only 
thirteen months after the next meeting of Congress. The business of 
these combined powers, in the intermediate time, will be to promote 
public distraction, extravagance, and discontent, not so much from the 
expectation of overcoming the decided sentence of the public upon the 
Bank, in the election just closed, as to prepare such a state of disorder 
and distraction between the period of the natural death of the Bank, 
and the retirement of Andrew Jackson from the station which he 
has so much honored and merited, as may afford them an occasion to 
set the will of the majority at defiance, as in 1824. 

The actual contest is for every thing that is sacred, as it was in 1798 ; 
the means of gaining public power by contempt for the people, and 
disregard of constitutional laws, are the same ; and we have in addition 
the introduction of secret armaments during an Election, and open 
murder in the very streets of our city. Such a combination, and such 
practices, must be met with the spirit which they provoke ; but unless 
the centinels of the people be decided as well as faithful — the con- 
sequences may be more easily imagined than described. 

This is the ground I stand upon — and it remains with the country, 
which is neither contaminated by the Bank nor debauched by a servil- 
ity to ambitious men, always fatal to republics, to say whether the 
Aurora shall continue its career, or sink under the influence of the want 
of energy and disinterestedness in the people, and the greater activity 
and influence of the political arts which now govern and disgrace the 
press and threaten the destruction of every vestige of public liberty. 

As I am habitually unreserved, I say at once that the subscription 
to the Aurora should be augmented at least 400 to enable me to go on ; 
500 would be preferable, if it were 5000 I should apply it — not to my 
own use — for a man of 75 has few wants and no motives of ambition 
beyond the consolations of the past. 

Forty gentlemen, who would agree to obtain ten subscribers each — 
or eighty, or even five or ten in detached districts, who should under- 
take to obtain five each, would realize the efficacy of the division of 
labor, and serve themselves and their country. 

If there be such men in the country, and that there are I know, but 
know not how to reach them, the object could be accomplished and the 
friends of freedom have the guarantee of forty years' consistency and 
rectitude for the fulfilment of the engagements which the undertaking 
was based upon. 

William Duane. 



1906.] EEMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT. 



395 



JUNE MEETING, 1906. 

The stated meeting was held on Thursday, the 14th instant, 
at three o'clock, p. m. ; the President in the chair. The record 
of the last previous meeting was read and approved ; and the 
Librarian, the Corresponding Secretary, and the Cabinet- 
Keeper submitted their customary reports. Among the gifts 
were an impression in bronze of a medal ordered by Congress 
to be engraved to commemorate the two hundredth anniversary 
of the btrth of Benjamin Franklin, received from the American 
Philosophical Society, and a fine mezzotint portrait of David 
Steuart Erskine, eleventh Earl of Buchan, the friend of Wash- 
ington, and a Corresponding Member of the Society. This en- 
graving, which was given by Mrs. William B. Rogers, is from 
a portrait by Sir Joshua Reynolds, published in 1765, and sent 
to James Otis, with an autograph inscription "as a mark of 
my attachment to the cause of Liberty and its friends." 

Hon. George Sheldon, of Deerfield, was elected a Resident 
Member; and Hon. Beekman Winthrop, Governor of Porto 
Rico, was elected a Corresponding Member. 

Voted, That the stated meetings for July, August, and Sep- 
tember be omitted, the President and Recording Secretary to 
have authority to call a special meeting if necessary. 

Mr. Nathaniel Paine communicated the memoir of the 
Hon. Stephen Salisbury which he had been appointed to 
prepare for publication in the Proceedings. 

A new serial, comprising the record of the March and April 
meetings, was ready for delivery at this meeting. 

The President in announcing the death of Hon. Carl Schurz 
spoke as follows : — 

Since the last meeting of the Society a vacancy has occurred 
in our roll of Honorary Members. Hon. Carl Schurz, whose 
name stood second on the list, died at his residence in New 



396 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JrxE, 

York on the morning of Monday, May 14, in his seventy-eighth 
year. 

Mr. Schiirz was elected at the December meeting of 1887. 
Under the system then in use the honorary roll numbered 
eighteen names and the corresponding sixty-two, or, in all, 
twenty more names than is permissible under the rule in force 
since 1895. George Bancroft was the senior honorary member, 
and of the eighteen then composing the full list only David 
Masson, chosen in 1871, now survives. Although Mr. Schurz 
was prominent in political life, a member of the United States 
Senate from 1869 to 1876, and of the Cabinet of President Hayes 
from 1877 to 1881, his Life of Henry Cla}', in the American 
Statesmen series, published in 1887, constitutes his only con- 
siderable contribution to historical literature. In recognition 
of it, he was made an Honorary Member of our Society. 
Later, in 1892, he wrote a brief and popular, but very admir- 
able appreciation of President Lincoln, which, iirst appearing 
in the Atlantic Monthly for June, 1891, has since, as an in- 
dependent monograph, passed through no less than twenty- 
eight editions. It is, however, suggestive of the radical 
change in the composition of our honorary roll introduced in 
1901 ^ that Mr. Schurz, not specially identified with histori- 
cal work, was chosen in succession to the Hon. Elihu B. 
Washburne, of Illinois,^ then recently dead, whose name is in 
no way whatever associated with either historical work or 
literature. Mr. Washburne was elected in 1882, on general 
considerations only ; Mr. Scliurz in 1887, in recognition of his 
eminence both political and literary and because of his recently 
published Life of Clay. But Mr. Schurz belonged more nearly 
in the class of William M. Evarts, whose name preceded liis 
on our roll until the death of Mr. Evarts in 1901, than in 
the class of Mr. Washburne. Under the regulations in use 
since 1901 the name of no one of the three, however eminent 
and otherwise representative, would have been found in a 
roll now, and with fitness, composed exclusively of those 
representing "supreme accomplishment in the historical 
field." 3 

I have known Mr. Schurz well for over thirty years; and, 
sympathizing warmly with his political views and attitude, I 

1 2 Proceedings, vol. xv. pp. 61-64. 

2 Ibid., vol. iv. p. 37. ^ Hid,^ vol. xv. p. 64. 



1906.] TRIBUTES TO HON. CARL SCHURZ, 397 

have had exceptional opportunity to judge of him, his ideals 
and his accomplishment. He was essentially a man of refine- 
ment, — a gentleman. He had a natural aptitude for what 
was best and most elevating, — art, music, literature. A 
linguist and a scholar, in society he bore himself easily as one 
to the manner born ; his private and domestic life was irre- 
proachable. High-toned, he was manly, courageous, cheerful. 
Defeat and disaster did not embitter him ; and, during one 
period, he rose superior when financial pressure, physical in- 
juiy, political ostracism and domestic bereavement all seemed 
to combine to rain affliction on him. Under such conditions 
with the average man the baser and human elements reveal 
themselves ; he is apt to become morose, harsh in his judg- 
ments, seclusive. It was not so with Mr. Schurz. By 
nature resilient, he bore straight on, awaiting the better time- 
Thus, altogether, it has been my fortune to know few men 
more admirable, very few whose society was so elevating. 
To associate with him on terms of equality was distinctly 
educational. 

In the course of a long life of exceptional variety he 
played many parts. In his youth, a student, a patriot, a revo- 
lutionist and an exile, he later became a reformer in a strange 
land, a journalist, speaker and publicist. Then a diplomat ; he 
next appeared in the army, a general in high and active com- 
mand. Afterwards he shone in politics as a parliamentarian 
and an administrator. In every field he entered he acquitted 
himself with more than credit ; in some, supremely well. A 
writer of singular force, as a public man he was actuated by 
the loftiest standards both moral and philosophical. A gen- 
eral, he did his duty well and bravely ; as an administrator, he 
lacked only time in which to enable him to leave a deep mark 
upon our governmental methods. But, a publicist and a par- 
liamentarian, he was a politician with statesmanlike instincts. 

Referring first and briefly to his historical work, his Life of 
Henry Clay, necessarily popular in form and treatment, is, 
from the literary point of view, one of the best works of its 
kind ever produced in America. Having a sympathetic 
affinity with Mr. Clay, Mr. Schurz's single term in the Senate 
gave him an insight into the conditions under which Clay 
worked and accomplished his results, thus affording his biog- 
rapher a true insight into his subject. He wrote not from 



398 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June, 

the outside, but from the inside. While the book cannot be 
classed among the great biographies in the language, it is 
none the less singularly illuminating ; and, so far as I am 
advised, by far the best, as most artistic, portrait in existence 
of one of the most distinctively American of all our large 
public characters. Mr. Schurz's Autobiography, prepared 
during the closing years of his life, is now passing through the 
press. It has, however, thus far appeared only in a popular 
magazine and in mangled form, and it will be necessary to wait 
until it is published as a book before passing judgment upon 
it. There can however be little doubt that it will prove a pic- 
turesque and valuable contribution of original matter pertain- 
ing to one of the most interesting of our American historical 
periods. 

Of Mr. Schurz's connection with this Society there is little 
to say. An Honorary Member for over eighteen years, he has 
been present, so far as I am aware, once only. While a guest 
at my house, he attended the meeting of November, 1903, and 
contributed a hastily prepared characterization of the historian 
Mommsen. 

But it is as a politician, a publicist and a parliamentarian 
that I wish to offer my impressions and estimate of Mr. Schurz. 
In those capacities I place him high ; in fact, speaking in 
measured terms, I do not know of any American I should 
place above him. His career in the Senate was limited to one 
term, six years only. With that single exception he never, so 
far as I am advised, belonged to any legislative body. Yet in 
the Senate he almost at once took foremost rank ; and I 
question if any man who ever sat in that body, in the course 
of one single term not ushered in by distinguished service in 
the lower House of Congress, gained a greater reputation, or 
secured a firmer hold on what must be described as the ear of 
the country. Mr. Schurz's term chanced, it will be remem- 
bered, during a very trying period, — it included the entire first 
administration of President Grant and one congressional terra 
of his second administration. Entering the Senate as a Re- 
publican from the half confederate State of Missouri, Mr. 
Schurz soon found himself forced into an independent atti- 
tude. As a Senator he was laborious, conscientious, high-toned 
and faithful to his ideals ; foremost in debate, he consistently 
voiced during a trying period a statesmanlike policy. 



1906.] TRIBUTES TO HON. CARL SCHURZ. 399 

I find a curious bit of contemporaneous evidence of this, my 
own high estimate, in the diary of my father under date of 
January 12, 1875. Those closing years of Mr. Adams's active 
life were in no way cheerful ; acutely sensible of his own 
declining powers, he was despondent as to the future, while, 
as is apt to be the case with men so circumstanced, his esti- 
mate of those then prominent in public life was low. Sad- 
dened himself, he, as a rule, saw little to admire. That day, 
however, he wrote the following brief record in his diary: — 
" Went to the office after reading a report of the speech of 
Mr. Schurz in the Senate on the Sheridan outrage. It is very 
seldom I am envious of anybody, but I should like to have 
something on the record which must stand permanent like 
that. I could not help sitting down, and writing a note sig- 
nifying my opinion. I could not have expressed my own 
convictions more fully, not to speak of the style, which is the 
more remarkable that he is a German." It was a case of 
approbation from Sir Hubert Stanley. Mr, Schurz, I know, 
so regarded it ; for, more than twenty years afterwards, I one 
day mentioned to him having come across this diary entry, 
and he at once recalled the language of the note referred to. 
But I find no copy of it in my father's letter-book. Perhaps 
it may find a place in Mr. Schurz's forthcoming volumes. 

To ray mind, it is a defect, and a very lamentable defect, in 
our American political machinery that a man of Mr. Schurz's 
purity, independence and intellectual equipment cannot be 
kept in public life unless, subservient to party, he also acts 
in harmony with the majority in the particular State or dis- 
trict in which he may reside. In Great Britain, for instance, 
the House of Lords affords a convenient retiring-place for emi- 
nent Englishmen when weary of the struggle of the Commons 
or when thrown out of official position. In the House of 
Commons a prominent member may find a constituency, or 
have one found for him, anywhere. Indeed, from Burke to 
Gladstone and Balfour the names of eminent Englishmen at 
once suggest themselves, — great parliamentary characters, 
who have, at one time or another in the course of their 
careers, been thrown out by constituencies with which they 
had identified themselves, and forced to find seats elsewhere. 
How ]\Ir. Burke was defeated at the polls in Bristol, and how 
Mr. Gladstone was forced to find some constituency of a 



400 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June, 

different character from that of Oxford, is ancient history. 
But Lord Palmerston perhaps affords the most striking illus- 
tration and contrast. Lord Palmerston was in Parliament 
over half a century. Representing four constituencies, he 
sat for Cambridge University from 1811 to 1830, when he lost 
his seat because of his advocacy of parliamentary reform. 
Finding immediately another seat, he lost it under the Reform 
Act. Returned next for South Hampshire, two years later 
the South Hampshire electors rejected him. A year without 
a seat, he then (1835) settled down on Tiverton, a safe little 
borough from which he could securely count on getting him- 
self returned ; and from it he was returned to the day of his 
death. Thus in 1834 Palmerston was thrown out of par- 
liamentary life as was Schurz in 1875 : but Palmerston found 
a seat a j'ear later, and in due time became twice prime 
minister; the retirement of Schurz was final. For him the 
avenue to the Senate chamber was closed. Could it have 
been otherwise, — could it have been with Mr. Schurz as it 
was with Palmerston, — it may sound, I am aware, like an 
exaggeration, but I do not hesitate to say that, judging 
by what he accomplished in his single senatorial term, he 
would have left behind him a reputation second to almost 
no English-speaking parliamentarian. With qualifications of 
the highest order lie had a natural aptitude for parlia- 
mentary work, as well as love for it. He was at home in 
debate, — in his element. As a parliamentarian of the first 
class, he was vastly superior to either Calhoun or Clay ; for 
there were veins of philosophy, humor and imagination run- 
ning through liis utterances conspicuously absent from the 
speeches of either of the two last named. It cannot, of 
course, be claimed for Carl Schurz that he had the richness 
of imagery or the exuberant splendor of diction which char- 
acterized Edmund Burke ; for in those respects Burke, like 
Shakespeare, is a class .by himself. Nevertheless, while Mr. 
Schnrz's language and illustration were more restrained than 
those of Burke, they were nearly perfect. Though he did not 
have the great Irishman's faculty of coining philosophical 
phrases, I fail to recall any one in my time through whose 
parliamentary utterances there ran such a vein of sound 
thought, and of presentation at once scholarlike and taking. 
His rhetoric, for instance, unlike that of Mr. Sumner, was 



1906.] TRIBUTES TO HON. CARL SCHURZ. 401 

never open to the charge of being turgid ; and though his 
ideals were different, they were not less high and far more 
human. 

Reflecting on such a possibility lost, it is sad, as well as 
provoking, to think of the waste of ability and statesmanlike 
thought incident to the practical working of our American 
political organization. As I have said, to hold his place in 
the councils of the nation, not only must a public man to-day 
be in close accord with a political party, and what is known as 
its " machine," but that political party must, moreover, not 
only be in a majority, but remain in the majority, in the 
particular district or State in which the individual resides. 
Thrown out of public position, he ceases to be a political 
factor. He may, it is true, like Mr. Schurz, — and Mr. 
Schurz is a shining example, — still hold the ear of the coun- 
try, and from time to time in his political canvasses deliver 
before large audiences speeches which affect results. Never- 
theless, his position and influence are manifestly less than 
those of a member of Parliament, or a public man holding a 
seat in the Senate of the United States. He is, so to speak, 
a political outcast. He can affect public opinion ; but, except 
in a remote and inconsiderable degree, he cannot influence 
governmental or parliamentary action. Mr. Schurz left office 
on the 5th of March, 1881, twenty-five years before his death. 
His whole official life was concentrated in a short ten years, 
six in the Senate and four in the Cabinet ; yet there never 
was a day, during the whole twenty-five years following the 
termination of his official life, and up to his death, when there 
was not in the United States a large constituency which would 
have gladly combined to place him and keep him in Cono-ress 
as its representative, provided our political machinery had 
made it possible so to do. But his constituency, though large 
and devoted, was necessarily scattered. There is no life 
chamber in our system, and the State and district lines make 
concentration impossible. 

That any remedy for this defect in our political machinery 
can ever be found and brought into play is most improbable. 
Nevertheless, Mr. Schurz affords a striking object lesson of a 
political need. Our present system tends very directly to par- 
tisanship and the commonplace through the exclusion from 
public life of men of strong individuality and independent 

51 



402 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June, 

character ; and this exclusion must continue and increase just 
so long as the constituencies are localized, and made to depend 
on geographical limits instead of community of opinion. 

Mr, Charles E. Norton, having been called on, spoke ex- 
temporaneously, in part as follows: — 

Mr. President, — My acquaintance with Mr. Schurz was of 
long standing, was cordial and friendly, but it was never 
intimate. Twenty-four years ago he came to Cambridge to 
deliver the Phi Beta Keppa oration, and staying witli me then 
for two or three da3-s, I had the opportunity of learning how 
delightful he was in social relations, how wide was the range 
of his intellectual interests, how varied his culture and his 
gifts. I had had some slight acquaintance with him for many 
years previously, but it was now that I came to know him in 
such wise as to gain the measure of his large nature. 

His career touches the imagination. That a man born and 
bred in the Old World, with inheritances, associations, and 
circumstances essentially different from those prevailing here, 
should, after reaching manhood, come to America and so com- 
pletely understand and sympathize with the new conditions, 
should make himself so perfectly one of her own children that 
if we were to choose among our contemporary fellow-citizens 
the half dozen who best represented the ideal American he 
would incontestably be one of them, is a fact without parallel 
in the records of that immigration of eminent men who have 
contributed so greatly in various directions to the service of 
our country. Mr. Gallatin is the only other instance that I 
now recall of a man of foreign birth coming in early manhood 
to take up his home with us, reaching higli political distinction, 
and rendering great political service to the land. But even 
his service is not comparable to that which during the fifty 
years of his American citizenship Mr. Schurz rendered to the 
land of his adoption. 

His clear, receptive, and well-trained intelligence was united 
with entire moral integrity, and tliis union formed tlie basis of 
the character which was conspicuous alike in his speech and 
in his act. He had what is so often lacking in our public 
men, — genuine moral independence. His intellectual honesty 
would not permit him to hesitate in acting upon the conclu- 
sions to which his convictions of right and wrong miglit lead 



1906.] TRIBUTES TO HON. CARL SCHURZ. 403 

him. This moral courage, in which he never failed, is the 
true test of manhood, and the prerequisite of the highest 
usefulness in public life. 

In the Phi Beta Kappa oration to which I have referred, he 
spoke of " an honorable character, well built up by honest 
conduct and patriotic service." The words applied fitly to 
himself. The address was mainly a plain and direct discus- 
sion of the relations of education to a democratic commu- 
nity. There was no attempt in it at oratorical display, but it 
was a serious appeal to thoughtful men, dealing mainly with 
familiar ideas, but presenting them with new force and illus- 
tration. The most original part of the address was toward its 
close, where he said, " The tone, the habits, the tastes, the 
pleasures, and in a large measure the morals, of society depend 
upon its culture." " I use the word ' culture,' " he added, 
" as signifying not merely the training of the mental faculties 
by which useful knowledge is acquired, but also the knowl- 
edge, appreciation, and enjoyment of the beautiful in nature, 
literature, and art, and of the noble, elevated, and refined in 
sentiment and in feeling." This culture Mr. Schurz possessed 
in large measure, and, in combination with his simplicity, his 
cordiality, his frank and open bearing, and the sweetness of 
his whole nature, it gave to intercourse with him an uncommon 
charm. 

I leave to others to speak of his public career. It is to the 
high-minded, interesting man in private life that I would bear 
testimony. His is a great figure now, and it will lose nothing 
of its greatness as the years go on. 

Mr. MooRFiELD Storey read the following tribute : — 

Mr. President and Gentlemen, — After the just and discrim- 
inating words to which we have listened I may well hesitate to 
address you, but I cannot remain absolutely silent when the 
opportunity is given to speak of Carl Schurz ; for of all the men 
that I have known there is not one whom I have admired and 
respected more entirely, nor one to whom I have turned more 
constantly for guidance and inspiration. 

It is nearly forty years since as a young man I first met Mr. 
Schurz, who was then just entering the Senate, but my real ac- 
quaintance with him began some ten or twelve years later 
when the Civil Service Reform League was organized. From 



404 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June, 

that time until his death, at the meetings of that association 
and its committees, in the campaign of 1884 and the national 
campaigns which followed it, in connection with the inde- 
pendent movements that have been initiated during the last 
twenty years, and finally iu the opposition to Philippine con- 
quest and the policies which are known as imperial, I was in 
frequent touch with him. I met him in his home and he was 
my guest, and through this intercourse I learned to know him, 
to confide in him, to lean on him, I may almost say, to love 
him. 

In him were combined rare qualities of head and heart, and 
he lacked no attribute of real greatness. His native intel- 
lectual power was remarkable, and it was developed and 
strengthened by thorough education and by very varied experi- 
ence of life. His judgment was calm and singularly sane. No 
man of his time thought more clearly on political questions or 
grasped with more unerring accuracy the vital points of a dis- 
cussion. He was a great orator, but his strength lay in his 
power of statement, his faculty of apt illustration, in his trans- 
parent sincerity rather than in rhetorical ornament. There are 
passages in his speeches which have great beauty, like that iu 
his eulogy of Charles Sumner which presents Sumner's argu- 
ment against placing the names of battles fought in our Civil 
War upon the flags of our regiments, but no man within my 
experience could equal him in marshalling his facts and driving 
his conclusion home by lucid and convincing argument. He 
was a master of language, and his great resources were always 
at command, for he was as quick-witted as he was clear-headed. 
Very few have combined such readiness in debate with such 
jjower of sustained speech. Whether we consider his prepared 
addresses, or his contributions to the running discussions of the 
Senate, Mr. Schurz must rank among the ablest debaters and 
the most persuasive orators that this country has known. 

There was one quality of his speech which should not be 
overlooked. He addressed always the conscience and the in- 
telligence of his liearers ; he spoke to the best that was in them. 
He never descended to clap-trap or fustian, nor invoked a 
motive that was base or sordid. His appeal was to principle, 
not to prejudice or partisanship. To quote his own words, 
he believed that " a large majority of the American people 
throughout honestly and earnestly mean to do right; and also 



1906.] TRIBUTES TO HON. CARL SCHURZ. 405 

that, the wildest temporary excitements notwithstanding, they 
work as earnestly to satisfy themselves as to what is right, and 
therefore welcome serious arguments and appeals to the high- 
est order of motives."* 

In this faith he spoke, and as Lincoln stands above and apart 
from Douglas to one who reads the famous joint debate be- 
tween them, so Schurz stands above the men whom he 
encountered in discussion, whether on the platform or in 
the Senate. 

But more important than powerful intellect or eloquent 
tongue was the high character, the lofty moral purpose which 
governed his life. His was the " moral supremacy " which, in 
the words of Lowell, " is the only supremacy which leaves 
monuments and not ruins behind it." His creed was expressed 
by himself in words which I like to quote : 

" Ideals are like stars. You will not succeed in touching 
them with your hands. But, like the sea-faring man in the 
.deserts of water, you choose them as your guides, and follow- 
ing them you reach your destiny." 

To this belief Mr. Schurz was ever loyal. His allegiance was 
to the truth everywhere and always. Those who maintained 
the right were his friends, those who opposed it were his adver- 
saries. To him party was an organization of citizens united to 
secure definite political objects, not an army enlisted to win and 
retain power. He thought it useful while it remained true to 
its purpose, a delusion and a snare when it was perverted to 
personal uses or bad ends. He refused to approve the de- 
lusive motto " Our country right or wrong " unless it was in- 
terpreted to mean " when it is right to be kept right and when 
it is wrong to be set right," and was therefore little likely 
against his country to follow his party right or wrong. 

Nor did he ever stoop to the doctrine that one must support 
an evil policy or a bad man at his party's bidding in order to 
retain position and influence in its councils. He would not 
stultify himself by advocating wrong, whether proposed by his 
political associates or their opponents. Thus he criticised Mr. 
Lincoln, whom he heartily respected, during the Civil War, 
and did not hesitate to antagonize General Grant at the height 
of his power and to tell the truth about his acts, however un- 
palatable. He left the Republican party to oppose Grant's re- 
election. He returned to resist within that party the forces 



406 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June, 

which rallied behind Mr. Blaine. He supported Mr. Hayes as 
its candidate, and in his cabinet did much to make bis adminis- 
tration successful, but when Mr. Blaine was nominated he 
led most brilliantly the campaign for 'Mr. Cleveland. The 
same purpose animated him in each case. He opposed Blaine 
for the same reasons which led him to oppose Grant. His con- 
victions never changed, and he followed them, not any group 
of politicians. 

Born when the tide of freedom was rising all over the world, 
he adopted the ideals of the American Revolution and the faith 
of Lincoln in his early youth. In the cause of liberty he 
ventured his life and accepted exile from his native land. He 
believed in the right of men to govern themselves, he agreed 
with the prime minister of England that " good government 
cannot take the place of self-government," and to the faith of 
his youth he was true to the end. As he espoused the cause 
of the slave when he first became an American, so in his age he 
strove for the rights of the Filipinos, true in each case to the 
fundamental principles of American liberty. Detraction and 
abuse were showered upon him by those whom his attitude of- 
fended, but every party was glad to welcome his powerful aid. 
His course drove him from public emploj^ment, for which he 
was so peculiarly fitted ; but even when he might have received 
high office from Mr. Cleveland, he urged his associate " Mug- 
wumps " not to accept preferment, lest the purity of their 
motives in resisting Mr. Blaine might be questioned and their 
just influence for good be thereby weakened. Both riches and 
high office were within his easy reach, but neither tempted him 
to forsake the path of public duty. 

As I look back upon his career, it is the absolutely consistent 
course of a high-hearted man, devoted to his country and al- 
ways forgetful of himself, who during more than half a century 
was true to his ideals and gave his great powers to advance 
the truth, untempted by hope of preferment and undaunted by 
fear of obloquy or loss. 

His nature was singularly simple, serene, frank, and af- 
fectionate. He was free even " from the last infirmity of noble 
minds." He claimed nothing for himself, nor was he jealous 
of others, but rejoiced in their success. Like Sumner, he had 
as white a soul as is given to man. In his company one felt 
that he was breathing a pure air. While literature, music, and 



1906.] TRIBUTES TO HON. CARL SCHURZ. 407 

every subject with which a cultivated man is naturally con- 
cerned found a place in his thoughts and his talk about them 
was always delightful, the things which interested him most 
were the grave affairs of government, and in discussing them he 
lifted the conversation to a plane where personal bitterness 
and sordid considerations found no place. He dealt with 
policies, — with ideas rather than with persons, and while he 
saw the evildoer clearly and was ready to resist him, his 
judgment was not clouded by personal bitterness. He hated 
the wrong and not the man. 

In peace and in war he served his country well, and when we 
remember all that he did in the contest against slavery with 
voice, pen, and sword,— in shaping the policy of reconstruction 
and preserving the results of the Civil War, in the efforts to 
root out corruption wherever it showed its head, in the struo-o-le 
for civil service reform and for honest money, — when fn a 
word we remember that he was faithful to every good cause 
from youth to age and then look in vain for any alloy of sordid 
aim or selfish thought, we need not fear that any praise of ours 
will do him more than justice. He was a Bayard of true De- 
mocracy, a knight without fear and without reproach. True- 
hearted, brave, pure, unselfish, and ever faithful to his high aims 
we have known no nobler man than Carl Schurz. ' 

Mr. Bliss Perry said: — 

Mr. Schurz had many qualities which endeared him to his 
friends and compelled the respect even of his opponents He 
had one gift which impressed everybody, namely, his mastery 
of our mother tongue, and of this gift I wish to sav a word 

Possessed of a naturally keen and strong intelligence, it is 
evident from his Autobiography that he began very early to 
cultivate his powers of expression. His German schoolmaster 
Bone, trained him to observe and to describe natural objects 
with the utmost precision, and he ascribed to this trainino- 
much of his skill in writing German. He mastered Latin"^ 
Greek, and to a certain extent Italian, in school. His rapid 
progress in French during his sojourn in Paris as a journalist, 
he attributed to his constant practice in composing, under the 
eye of his teacher, themes upon political and social subjects 
m which he was intensely interested and which called forth 
all the powers of his mind. When he reached America, he 



408 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June, 

subjected himself to the same rigorous discipline in writing 
English, and in the course of a few months he felt that he 
had acquired "a sense of the logic and also of the music of 
the language." The rapidity of his progress was extraordinary. 
When he landed in Edinburgh on a November Sunday in 
1851, he knew but two words of English, "sherry" and 
" beefsteak." His vocabulary was promptly enriched by 
another, " oxtail soup." Upon this narrow but substantial 
foundation he built his treasure-house of English speech. 
In less than seven years after that Edinburgh Sunday he 
had taken the stump for Lincoln in the Illinois senatorial 
campaign of 1858. He rose swiftly to the first rank of 
political debaters, and as an orator, journalist, and writer 
of biography, he held his own with the best men of his 
time. A few other men of European birth and training may 
have shown equal facility in writing correct English. Francis 
Lieber was, I suppose, one of them ; and Louis Kossuth, who 
learned his English in prison from a Shakespeare and a 
Johnson's Dictionary, commanded the emotional resources of 
our language to a miraculous degree. But it may be doubted 
if even Kossuth could have held his own with Carl Schurz in 
a running debate upon the floor of the Senate. Mr. Schurz 
spoke with a slight accent that seemed to add crispness and 
point to hie sentences ; he had a faultless precision of phrase, 
a merciless logic, and an instinctive command of idiomatic 
Saxon terms. 

As a man of letters, his reputation rests upon his Atlantic 
essay on Lincoln, and his Life of Henry Clay, which our 
associate Mr. Rhodes has pronounced to be one of the best 
biographies ever written. In both of these productions he 
exhibits scarcely a trace of characteristic German style. His 
sentences are short, his choice of words pure and precise, and 
the entire structure is marked by clarity and simplicity. An 
equally striking though less familiar example of his essential 
fairness of mind and his power of objective delineation is 
his report to President Johnson in December, 1865, upon the 
Condition of the South. Considering the difficulties in the 
way of reaching a fair appraisal of the facts, the conflicting 
testimony, the violent sectional feeling to be reckoned with, 
that report, now buried in a Senate Document, is one of the 
most remarkable productions of the Reconstruction Period, 



1906.] SMIBERT'S portrait of MRS. JONES. 409 

and it shows Mr. Schurz's qualities of mind and his skill of 
statement at their best. 

It should be added that the extraordinary gift of expression 
to which I have alluded was only incidental, after all, to the 
larger purposes of Mr. Schurz's life. He made no capital out 
of it. He rarely or never yielded to the characteristic intel- 
lectual temptations of the orator. Possessing all the fighting 
weapons of the demagogue, he never used them for demagogic 
purposes. He had, as Mr. Norton once said of George William 
Curtis, " a most public soul." For more than fifty years 
there was scarcely a bad cause in our poHtical life which did 
not have reason to fear this German-born master of English 
speech. There was no good cause to which he did not bring 
help and courage. 

Mr. Albert B. Hart presented a. large number of docu- 
ments relating to the domestic slave trade, and said that as he 
was obliged to leave before the close of the meeting he would 
take another opportunity to describe them. 

Hon. Samuel A. Green read the following communica- 
tion : — 

By request of Miss Mary Ann Jones, and in her name, I 
wish to present a portrait of her great-grandmother, Mrs. Mary 
Ann (Faneuil) Jones, who was a sister of Peter Faneuil. It 
was painted by Smibert, and is a companion piece to the 
portrait of the benefactor of the city of Boston, also painted by 
Smibert, which hangs on the stairway of this building. 

Miss Jones, the giver of the picture, is a daughter of Charles 
Faneuil and Sarah Barbara (Vinton) Jones, who were married 
on December 10, 1835. Her father, born February 22, 1803, 
died in Roxbury on June 26, 1861, at the age of fifty-eight 
years; and her mother died at Pepperell, on August 4, 1864, 
at the age of fifty-eight years, two months, and four days. 
Her grandfather was Edward Jones, and her grandmother was 
Deborah Hewes. They were married on May 30, 1779, and 
lived in Milk Street. He was baptized in Trinity Church on 
July 29, 1751, and he died on June 27, 1835, aged eighty- 
three years ; and his wife died on January 24, 1808, aged 
forty-eight years. The heirs of lier grandfather who were 
Miss Jones's father and aunt Eliza, afterward the third wife 
of Dr. JNehemiah Cutter, of Pepperell, gave the Peter Faneuil 

52 



410 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June, 

portrait to the Society (Proceedings II. 19) at the October 
meeting, 1885. 

As a young woman Miss Faneuil, the subject of the portrait, 
kept house for her noted brother Peter until his death on 
March 3, 1742-3. The mansion stood nearly opposite to the 
north end of the Chapel Burying-ground, about midway be- 
tween Beacon Street and the entrance to Pemberton Square, 
as those thoroughfares are known to-day. She was born at 
New Rochelle, New York, on April 6, 1715, and died in Boston 
on October 19, 1790. She married John Jones, Esq., of Rox- 
bury, who died in December, 1766. The following notice of 
her death appears in " The Herald of Freedom " (Boston), 
Friday, October 22, 1790 : — 

DIED] — On Tuesday last \_Octoher i.9], after a short illness in the 
seventy-sixth year of her age, Madame Mary ann Jones, sister of the 
late Peter Faneuil, Esq. — Her funeral is to proceed from her late 
mansion house, this afternoon at 3 o'clock, which her friends and ac- 
quaintance are desired to attend. 

In Mr. Sanborn's interesting paper on St. John de Crfeve- 
cceur, read at the last February meeting, reference is made 
to the vignettes that appear on the titlepages of St. John's 
French edition of his " Letters of an American Farmer " 
(Paris, 1787), printed in three volumes. In speaking of them 
Mr. Sanborn says : " They are circular, like medals, and may 
have been designed for such " ; and then he gives a descrip- 
tion of the one in the second volume, adding that it is " the 
best device of the three " (p. 65). 

It may be of interest to record here the fact that this de- 
vice was designed by Franklin, and that it had already been 
struck as a medal four years before the appearance of the 
French edition of St. John's Letters. 

Dr. Franklin, in writing to Robert R. Livingston, from 
Passy, under date of March. 4, 1782, says: — 

I will endeavour to procure a sketch of an emblem for the purpose 
you mention. This puts me in mind of a medal I have had a mind to 
strike, since the late great event you gave me an account of, representing 
the United States by the figure of an infant Hercules in his cradle, 
strano^liiig the two serpents ; and France by that of Minerva, sitting by 
as his nurse, with her spear and helmet, and her robe specked with 
a. few fleurs de lis. The extinguishing of two entire armies in one 



1906.] REMARKS BY MEMBERS. 411 

war is what has rarely happened, and it gives a presage of the future 
force of our growing empire. 

The letter is printed in Sparks's " Works of Benjamin 
Franklin" (IX. 173), with the following note to the para- 
graph given above : — 

This medal was subsequently executed under the direction of Dr. 
Franklin, with some variation in the device. On one side is an infant 
in his cradle strangling two serpents. Minerva, as the emblem of 
France, with her spear, helmet, and shield, is engaged in a contest with 
the British lion. The motto is, NoN sine Diis animosus infans ; 
under which are the dates of the two victories at Saratoga and York- 
town, "17 Oct. 1777," and "19 Oct. 1781." On the other side 
of the medal is a head of Liberty ; in the exergue, Libertas 
Americana, and the date of American independence, ''4 Jul. 1776." 

In a letter written at Passy, April 6, 1783, to the Grand 
Master of Malta, Dr. Franklin refers to this medal as one 
which he had lately caused to be struck. More than fifty 
years ago while in Paris I procured an impression from the 
die, as well as impressions from other dies relating to Ameri- 
can subjects, which are still in my keeping. It was the 
custom at the French mint then, as it perhaps is now, for the 
government to serve the public by furnishing any applicant 
with medals struck from their dies on payment of the price 
for the crude material used in the striking. 

Remarks were also made during the meeting by Messrs. 
Albert B. Hart, Barrett Wendell, Franklin B. San- 
born, and Archibald Gary Goolidge, the latter of whom 
gave extemporaneously and at some length his personal im- 
pressions of the condition and prospects of East Africa, 
derived from a recent visit to British East Africa and the 
Uganda Protectorate. 



412 MASSACHUSETTS HISTOKICAL SOCIETY. [June, 



MEMOIR 

OF 

STEPHEN SALISBURY. 

BY NATHANIEL PAINE. 



Stephen Salisbury, who became a member of the Massachu- 
setts Historical Society in 1881 and was a member of the 
Council in 1895-1896, died at his home in Worcester, 
Massachusetts, November 16, 1905. 

For more than a century the name of Salisbury has been an 
honored one in Worcester, the first of the name, Stephen 
Salisbury, coming there in 1767, where in partnership with 
his brother Samuel he established the English and West 
India goods house of Samuel and Stephen Salisbury and did a 
large and prosperous business for many years. This Stephen 
married, in 1797, Elizabeth Tuckerman of Boston, by whom 
he had a son Stephen, born in 1798, who became one of 
AVorcester's most honored citizens, and there he died in 1884 
in the eighty-seventh year of his age. He married, in 1833, 
Rebekah Scott Dean, of Charlestown, New Hampshire, by 
whom he had one son, born March 31, 1835, the subject of 
this memoir. 

Mr. Salisbury's mother died when he was quite young, and 
after he was eight years of age he was brought up under the 
watchful care of his father, who early impressed upon him the 
importance of doing his duty in whatever position in life 
he might be placed. That he lived according to this early 
training was one of the most marked characteristics of his 
after life, and one which made him at times most strenuous in 
his dealings with all with whom he had friendly or business 
relations. 

His early education was received in the private and public 
schools of his native town, after leaving which he entered 



1906. J MEMOIR OF STEPHEN SALISBUEY. 413 

Harvard University and graduated with the Class of 1856. 
Among his classmates were Charles Francis Adams, the 
honored president of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
George B. Chase, William Powell Mason, George D. Robinson, 
Judge Jeremiah Smith, Howard M. Ticknor, and William P. 
Upham. 

After leaving college Mr. SaHsbury went to Germany and 
studied in Berlin in the Friedrich Wilhelm University and 
later attended the Ecole de Droit, Paris. 

He returned to Worcester in 1858, attended the Harvard 
Law School in 1859, received the degree of LL.B. in 1861, 
and was admitted to the Worcester County Bar the same year, 
but never practised, the extensive real estate owned by his 
father^ giving him ample opportunity to use his legal knowl- 
edge in the care of the property, especially when, upon his 
father's death in 1884, he came into its full possession. 

In 1862 he visited his classmate David Casares at Merida, 
Yucatan, and travelled extensively in that country, examin- 
ing the various ruins and studying its archaeology. This 
interest continued till his death, and the last visitor at his 
home was Mr. Casares. Mr. Salisbury also prepared for 
the American Antiquarian Society interesting monographs, 
the results of his investigations in Yucatan. Among these 
were a paper on " The Mayas and the Sources of their His- 
tory," " Maya Archaeology and Notes on Yucatan," and " Terra 
Cotta Figures from Isla Mujeres, northwest coast of Yucatan." 

He also translated from the German several papers on 
Yucatan and the Mayas, written by Philipp J. J. Valentin! for 
the American Antiquarian Society. Among these were " The 
Mexican Calendar Stone," " Mexican Copper Tools and the 
Katunes of Mexican History," " The Use of Copper by 
the Mexicans before the Conquest," " The Olmecas and the 
Tullecas, A Study in Early Mexican Ethnology and History." 
His visits to Yucatan made him many friends in that countr}^, 
and after his death a fitting memorial signed by Governor 
Molina and others was sent to the American Antiquarian 
Society expressing their love and respect. 

Although greatly interested in the welfare of the country, 
his State and city, he was not a politician, and it was only by 
strong solicitations of citizens that he was induced to hold any 
public office. In 1863-1865 he was a member of the Common 



414 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June, 

Council of Worcester, and was president of that body in the last- 
named year. He represented Worcester in the State Senate 
of Massachusetts from 1893 to 1895, and was chairman of 
the committees on Education and on Banks and Banking 
and a member of the committee on the Library. As in all other 
positions of trust, he was honest and faithful in looking after 
the interests of the whole State as well as of his immediate 
constituents. At the time of his death he was one of the 
Commissioners of the Sinking Fund of Worcester, and his 
conservative judgment was of great value in that position. 
He was one of the Commissioners of Shade Trees and Public 
Grounds of Worcester, 1869-1884, and a Park Commissioner 
from 1884 to 1886. 

Mr. Salisbury's wealth and his well-known interest in all 
that concerned the welfare of the city caused him to be very 
often applied to for aid in business enterprises which did 
not prove to be all that was anticipated, and although he 
very likely lost much money in this way he was never known 
to complain. If he had in any way benefited the city or its 
business interests even at a loss to himself, he was glad to 
have done so. 

This interest in Worcester was also shown by the laying 
out and adorning of the beautiful Institute Park of eighteen 
acres which he presented to the city. At the time of his 
death he had other projects of a like nature underway for the 
benefit of his fellow-citizens. 

His practical interest in all educational movements is well 
known, and his name is also connected with most of the 
charitable institutions of the city without regard to creed. 
He was a Vice-President of the St. Vincent's Hospital, of the 
Home for Aged Men, Trustee of the Memorial Hospital, and a 
director of the Associated Charities ; and he presented a build- 
ing to the City Hospital. He was chairman of the Trustees 
of the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and a member of the 
American Geographical Society. Other societies with which 
he was connected were the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
New-England Historic Genealogical Society, the Archaeological 
Institute of America, and the Worcester Society of Antiquity. 
Of the last named he was a most liberal benefactor. 

He was a member of the Conservatorio Yucateo and of the 
Sociedad Mexicana de Geografia y Estadistica. He was for 



1906.] MEMOIR OF STEPHEN SALISBURY. 415 

many years an active member of the Worcester Natural 
History Society and contributed largely for its maintenance. 

As president of the American Antiquarian Society, of which 
he became a member in 1863, a member of its Council in 1874, 
Vice-President in 1884, and President from 1887 till his death, 
he rendered most efficient service, taking an active part in all 
the details of its management. To him more than to any one 
else that Society was most indebted for the success of its 
meetings, for it was his practice for many years to secure the 
writers of papers to be presented at these meetings and to 
make the visit of members at the annual meeting attractive by 
his most gracious hospitality, as all who were privileged to 
attend will testify. He often contributed antiquarian and 
archaeological papers, on matter connected with his visits to 
Yucatan, some of which have already been mentioned. In 
1888 he presented a paper on Early Books and Libraries, but 
after he became president he devoted so much time to securing 
papers from others to be presented at the Society meetings 
that he could not prepare special papers himself. Besides 
large contributions to the funds of the Society during his life, 
he made it a beneficiary in his last will, giving it a valuable 
lot of land and $200,000 in money. 

As a member of the Massachusetts Historical Society he 
was much interested, and when his many business cares gave 
him the time -and opportunity, he was glad to attend its meet- 
ings, and was a member of the Council for a short time. This 
interest was practically exemplified by his bequest of $5000 to 
the Society. 

He was greatly interested in the educational institutions 
of his own city, and when Clark University was founded he 
became a trustee, which office he held till his death. His 
interest in the University was manifested in many ways, 
notably by a contribution of 825,000, also by being at the 
expense of sending one of the University professors to the 
Galapagos Islands for scientific investigation. 

He was for many years connected with the financial institu- 
tions of the city. He was president of the old Worcester County 
Institution for Savings many years, and at the time of his 
death was president of the Worcester National Bank. He also 
served on the finance committee of several educational and 
charitable associations of Worcester. 



416 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June, 

He was a director of the Boston and Albany Railroad, the 
Norwich and Worcester Railroad, the Worcester Consolidated 
Street Railway Company, the New England Telephone and 
Telegraph Company, and many others of a like nature. 

The Worcester Polytechnic Institute was incorporated in 
1865, Mr. Salisbury's father being the first president of the 
Board of Trustees. After the death of his father the son 
became actively interested in the Institute, and in 1891 was 
made a trustee and became president in 1896, holding that 
office till a few months before his death. Several years be- 
fore, he had given to the Institute the money for building a 
fine laboratory, which was named after him, it being one of 
the very rare cases where he allowed his name to be used 
because of his benefactions. He continued his financial con- 
tributions to the institution almost up to the time of his 
death, and manifested his interest in its objects by leaving to 
it a large sum in his will. 

It was in 1891 that Mr. Salisbury invited a number of 
ladies and gentlemen to meet at his house, and there proposed 
the establishment of a Museum of Art in Worcester, offering 
to present to a corporation, when it should be formed, a lot of 
land and a handsome sum for a building. This gift he soon 
enlarged to $100,000, one-half to be used for a building and 
the rest for the maintenance of the Museum. 

With his usual modesty and disregard of self he declined to 
serve as one of the trustees or to have his name attached in 
any way to the enterprise. He suggested for trustees ladies 
and gentlemen who he thought would be interested in the 
undertaking, leaving the details to their judgment. 

After the erection of a building and the Museum was well 
established he continued his practical interest in its welfare, and 
it became his custom to make aimual calls on the treasurer 
and leave with him a check of $25,000 or $50,000, with the ex- 
press understanding that no, public mention should be made of 
it. In this way he gave to the Museum over $400,000 in 
money and another large lot of land for the future extension 
of the building, and by his last will he made it his residuary 
legatee, which will, it is supposed, eventually make it the most 
liberally endowed institution of the kind in the country. 

At a meeting of the trustees of the Museum held soon after 
his death, the president of the Board, Dr. Daniel Merriman, in 



190G.] MEMOIR OF STEPHEN SALISBURY. 417 

announcing the great loss to the Museum and to the city in 

the most appropriate and fitting remarks, well said of him : 

" Lover of antiquity, of hospitality, of good learning, of good 
men, he was always ready to support with patient and pious 
zeal every worthy cause. Through his ancestry, his wealth, 
his sympathies, he was constantly and actively identified for 
half a century with the best growth, best elements, and best 
nistitutions of Worcester. Having means, tastes, and oppor- 
tunities which would have inclined many men to selfish 
leisure, he really lived a life of laborious and almost austere 
service for the good of others in public and private; never 
complaining, but with increasing disabiHties, facing duty to 
the very last. The poor, unfortunate, and struggling always 
had a quiet and unwearying helper in him, whose charity 
flowed widely in a multitude of unseen channels ; and there 
is hardly an institution in the city to which he was not 
constantly giving not only his money, but also his counsel, 
his sympathy, and in many cases his anxious, personal 
supervision." 

His generosity was large, but discriminating; his wealth was 
to him a trust which he endeavored to fulfil without thought 
of himself. His gifts were never made public from his own 
choice, but only when they became so large or of such a nature 
that they could not be concealed. Perhaps the most marked 
characteristics of Mr. Salisbury were his simple manners, his 
great modesty, and his strong sense of duty. 

It was a ruling principle with him in all his transactions 
with his fellow-citizens, whether in public or private relations, 
to decide what was his duty as a man, and the proper course 
for him to pursue in his dealings with all. 

He was reserved in speaking of his private affairs and had 
few confidants, but was always ready to listen with sympathy 
and patience to the affairs and troubles of others. He was, 
like his father, a gentleman of the old school, modest and re- 
tiring, but with high ideas of duty, honor, and true courtesy. 

Although not called a specially religious man, he was most 
constant in his attendance at church and a generous contribu- 
tor to its support. He knew no creed in his aid to religious 
associations, whether Protestant or Catholic, and was ever 
ready to give to all he deemed deserving. Rev. ]\Ir. Garver, 
his pastor, in speaking of him well said : " Nothing that con- 

63 



418 MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [June, 

cerned the welfare of the church, its Benevolent Society, 
its Lend-a-Hand Club, its social gatherings, was unimportant 
to him; for all he had time to spare. He was not one who 
could not see good in other forms of faith. On the con- 
trar}'-, his sympathies and his benevolence refused to recognize 
sectarian lines. But in his belief and in his reticence, in 
the strength of his moral connections, in the nobility of his 
sentiments, in his habit of mind and type of character, he 
was a shining illustration of what our church stands for at 
its best." 

Mr. Salisbury was always tolerant of the feelings and 
opinions of others and never tried to force his own views 
upon others, but was modest in the extreme when talking 
of himself, which he seldom did. He was a firm friend to 
those whom he honored with his friendship, and was ever 
watchful to do what he could to serve them, as so many 
can testify. He enjoyed being of help to his friends, and 
was ever on the lookout that he might be of service, and 
his nature was most unselfish. 

The pastor of one of the Catholic churches of Worcester 
said of him : " He was a great, public-spirited citizen and 
was never appreciated highly enough. In all his public and 
private relations he was a high-minded, generous man. No 
man in Worcester ever displayed broader charity than he. 
His public gifts were many and unhampered by considerations 
of race, class, or creed, but no one save those who knew 
him well will ever be able to appreciate his boundless private 
charities." 

Notwithstanding his modesty and reserve, he was socially 
inclined, and took part in social occasions with apparent en- 
joyment. He was, as was his grandfather and father before 
him, a member of the Worcester Fire Society, founded in 1793, 
originally formed for the protection of its members in case 
of fire, but for many years an entirely social organization. 
He was also a member of the Union and University Clubs of 
Boston, of the Worcester and Hancock Clubs of Worcester, 
and of the St. Wulstan Society; and was interested in and 
aided other organizations of a like nature in Worcester. 

Since Mr. Salisbury's death many of his private benefactions 
have come to light, and show the kindness of his heart and 
his unselfish thought of others. He never seemed to be 



LB '06 



1906.] MEMOIR OF STEPHEN SALISBURY. 419 

weary of well doing, and has left behind him a reputa- 
tion as a man of strict integrity and honesty as opposed 
to anything that looked like hypocrisy. 

He was admired and respected by his fellow-citizens, who 
never seemed to envy him his wealth, because they 'knew 
him to be most generous to all who called upon him for 
sympathy or aid, and knew that his aim was to do his whole 
duty at all times. 



SEP Be 1906 



